Nature Corner: The Moth with the Stinging Spines

Every July 4th that I’ve been in the woods, I’ve noticed an unusual number of Io moths, and have always wondered about the rest of their lives. I remember collecting adult specimens in the George Washington National Forest as a child, but don’t remember ever following the life cycle of this particularly colorful saturniid. On a recent trip to West Virginia, I found a handful of Io wings and so decided to return to my world of nerdy research to find out exactly how these things spend their youth. I was pretty excited to find out that these insects are actually kind of rebellious in their caterpillar youth. Like little insect punks, they roam the trees and plants flashing their switchblade spines, taunting unwary birds and reptiles to just try and make a snack out of their spiny backpack. For more info and photos check out these sites:

• http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/misc/io_moth.htm
• http://cse-ferg41.unl.edu/pub/leps/index.html?page=io
• http://www.ext.vt.edu/departments/entomology/factsheets/io.html