Last year I received two Io moth caterpillars. They promptly made cocoons for themselves and I put them in the fridge to overwinter. I took them out in April and have been waiting for them to emerge since then. It took a few months, but one finally emerged yesterday!

A female Io moth, showing off the golden eye spots on her hind wings. Photo by Carolyn Trietsch, CC BY 2.0. Click for source.

As soon as I picked it up, the moth flared its hind wings out in a warning display. The moths flash the eye spots on their hind wings to startle birds and other predators.

Female Io moth. Photo by Carolyn Trietsch (CC BY 2.0). Click for source.

Both males and females have large eye spots on the hind wings, but the color of the fore wings and bodies differ between the sexes. The females are typically reddish-brown, while the males are yellow. This moth is a female.