Sandy's finding the kewl H. cercropia larva on her Buttonbush got me thinking about the silks again, and I remembered I had a movie of a C. splendens larva. Dug it out and here's a shot taken with my Cannon digital off the movie while running. I think this qualifies as a hard way to get a picture to post. LOL.

Off to google the the cat. Curious to see what larva looks like when it's a moth.

The ones I'd get from SE AZ to rear were Citheronia splendens sinaloensis (those back east are Citheronia splendens splendens). I'd find them on various LFP's... Rhus (sumac), Arctostaphylus (manzanita), Gossypium (wild cotton), or get eggs from gravid females, but I always reared them on Juglans (walnut) because I had a giant Black Walnut across the street from me back home. Same food for the C. regalis I reared.

Sherry, it's a tie I guess, especially if you go by that common name thing again. They are both called either the Hickory Horned Devil, or the Royal Walnut Moth depending on where you're at. Close cousins, but not the same bug. Great picture of a C. regalis cat. Wish I had access to my old pictures. I'd see your C. regalis and raise you say a Dynastes hercules from Costa Rica or maybe a Cyclommatus imperator from PNG (yep, I did some work with Coleoptera too).

Edna, it's hard not to get "taken" buy the moths, especially those from the Saturniidae, Sphingidae, Arctiidae and Sesiidae families. Some of the Geometrids and Noctuids are no slouches either, especially if you take very interesting life histories into account and not just "big" or "showy".

I have these little guys all over the mint in my garden. Jim i.d. them but the name slips my mind. Anyway, they are even more colorful than the picture. I enjoy them none the less. They are quite comical, they follow me around the garden.