Antheraea montezuma

Description

Antheraea montezuma is a moth of the familySaturniidae. The scientific name of the species is, as Saturnia montezuma, first validly published in 1856 by Sallé. Antheraea is a moth genus belonging to the family Saturniidae. The genus was erected by Jacob Hübner in 1819. Several species of this genus have caterpillars which produce wild silk of commercial importance. Commonly called "tussar silk", the moths are named tussar moths after the fabric. The butterflies of the genus are very large and yellowish to brownish in color. There are large disc-shaped spots on the fore and hind wings. There are no significant differences in wing markings between the sexes. The tentacles are quadruple comb-shaped, in the males they are very broad and feather-like, in the females, however, narrow. The caterpillars are green and have convex segments with distinct but reduced spines or hairs. They pupate in a large, firm ovoid cocoon without a hole. To leave the cocoon, the hatching butterflies release a protease that breaks down the spider silk.