Nature can be astoundingly beautiful.
My wife has recently requested a tattoo design to start on her Victorianesque lepidopterist sleeve and I came across these amazing moths and their even more awe inspiring caterpillar. Of course, it was quickly accepted as one of the caterpillars for the design along with the moth itself.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera (Macrolepidoptera)
Superfamily: Bombycoidea
Family: Saturniidae
This is the caterpillar of the Saturniidae Moth. Saturniidae refers to a family of amazing moths, also known as Saturniids that encompass around 2,300 species worldwide though the largest and most vibrant of the family are generally found in the tropics and subtropics of the Southern Americas. They are famed for the most striking of the moth family; the emperor and royal moths. And their caterpillars are amazing!
Looking at this caterpillar, I first didn't believe this could be real, but the caterpillar utilises the vibrant colours and spines to detract and confuse potential predators and to appear unpalatable. As adults, the Saturniidae moths display a fabulous array of colours and patterns shown below in the following pictures.
