''Automeris'' is a genus of

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

s in the family

Saturniidae Saturniidae, commonly known as saturniids, is a family of Lepidoptera with an estimated 2,300 described species. The family contains some of the largest species of moths in the world. Notable members include the emperor moths, royal moths, and gi ...

and the subfamily

Hemileucinae Hemileucinae is a subfamily of the family Saturniidae. It is also known as venomous caterpillars. This subfamily contains the following genera: *'' Adetomeris'' Michener, 1949 *'' Ancistrota'' Hübner, 1819 *''Arias'' Lemaire, 1995 *'' Autome ...

. As of 1996 there were 124 species, and more have since been described.Balcázar-Lara, M. A. (2000)
"A new ''Automeris'' from the Manantlan Reserve in Mexico (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae: Hemileudinae)"
''Florida Entomologist''. 83 (2): 343-48. These moths are generally characterized by the eyelike patches on the hindwings and the leaflike pattern on the forewings, an example of

crypsis In ecology, crypsis is the ability of an animal or a plant to avoid observation or detection by other animals. It may be a predation strategy or an antipredator adaptation. Methods include camouflage, nocturnality, subterranean lifestyle and ...

. The genus was first described by

Jacob Hübner Jacob Hübner (20 June 1761 – 13 September 1826, in Augsburg) was a German entomologist. He was the author of ''Sammlung Europäischer Schmetterlinge'' (1796–1805), a founding work of entomology. Scientific career Hübner was the author of '' ...

in 1819 and it is distributed in the

Neotropical realm The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

List of species

Gallery

File:Automeris ioFMPCCA20040704-2974B1.jpg, ''Automeris io'' File:Automeris metzli.jpg, ''Automeris metzli'' File:Naturkundliche Sammlung Übermaxx Überseemuseum Bremen 0046.JPG, ''Automeris zozine'' File:Automerislarra.JPG, ''Automeris larra'' File:Moth (Automeris sp.).JPG, ''Automeris'' species,

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

References

Hemileucinae Moth genera {{Saturniidae-stub