"Oh man, I had WAY too much nectar last night. Oh my aching head..." The forum should go through it's transition at any today, so I won't be verbose. I posted some bug photos last week and here is another moth shot to go with them. I found this poor guy one morning on the wall of my house, sleeping off the night's debauchery. ----- Spotted Red-Winged Oleander Moth (Caterpillar) Empyreuma affinis Rothschild (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) The spotted oleander caterpillar is a recent immigrant to the United States, first recorded in Florida in Boca Raton, Palm Beach County, in February 1978. It was originally identified as Empyreuma pugione but was later determined to be E. affinis. The spotted oleander caterpillar's distribution within Florida is quite limited, being relatively common only in the Keys and south Florida. It is a native of the Caribbean region and has been recorded from Guadeloupe, Martinique, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Cuba. It is one of only three species of caterpillars that may be found feeding on oleander in Florida. This arctiid species is considerably less common and less destructive than the oleander caterpillar, Syntomeida epilais Walker. Its eggs are pearly white, turning to yellow just before hatching, spherical, and about 1 mm in width. The larvae are light orange, hairy caterpillars. They have tubercles on the lateral and dorsal regions of each segment from which protrude tufts of stiff reddish-brown hairs. On the mesonotum, metanotum, and the eighth abdominal segment, there is a pair of longer stiff black hairs. Six rows of regularly spaced large silver-colored spots ringed with dark brown form discontinuous longitudinal bands along the entire length of the caterpillar's body. The adult moth has a wingspan of 43 to 48 mm. The antennae are bipectinate and black in color with metallic blue highlights and orange tips. The male moths are distinguished by having slightly longer pectination on their antennae than the females. The body is dark brown with metallic blue highlights. There is a series of small white spots down the dorsum of the thorax and along the sides of the abdomen. The forewings are light chocolate brown with a border fringe of deeper brown. The area between the costal and subcostal veins on the forewing is carmine red. The hind wings are entirely carmine red with a deep brown border fringe. ----- Many thanks for your towering comments on my last upload, Invasion of the Lily Pond IV.

----- Olympus C-8080WZ & PhotoshopCS. (645)