This is a striking lepidopteran of the family Saturniidae, widely recognized for its astonishing crypsis and visual defense mechanisms. It exhibits pronounced sexual dimorphism in both size and coloration. Females possess a wingspan ranging from 3.1 to 4.3 inches (80 to 110 mm), whereas males are slightly smaller, measuring between 2.7 and 3.5 inches (70 to 90 mm). The coloration of the forewings varies from orange-brown to grayish and yellowish tones, allowing them to blend seamlessly with dead leaves in their environment when at rest. The most remarkable feature of this taxon is found on its hindwings, which display two large, concentric eyespots colored black, yellow, and white, resembling the eyes of a much larger predator. The male´s antennae are highly bipectinate, adapted to detect pheromones over long distances, whereas the female´s antennae are filiform. In its larval stage, the body is bright green with white and reddish lateral stripes, covered in branching, urticating spines loaded with toxins that produce an extremely painful stinging effect on potential predators.

Geographical distribution: This species is widely distributed throughout the temperate and subtropical regions of southern South America. Its geographic range covers much of Argentina (particularly the provinces of Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Entre Ríos, and Santa Fe), southern and southeastern Brazil, as well as the entirety of Uruguay and various temperate areas of Paraguay.

Habitat: It occupies a wide variety of habitats, ranging from open woodlands, woody savannas, the Pampas grassland biome, and transitional zones of the humid Chaco, to highly anthropized environments. It is frequently found in urban parks, residential gardens, orchards, and disturbed forest areas, demonstrating remarkable ecological plasticity to adapt to areas with human disturbance, provided suitable host plants are present.

Feeding: It exhibits drastically different feeding habits depending on the stage of its life cycle. The larvae are highly polyphagous and phytophagous, feeding on a vast range of plant species that include families such as Rosaceae (peaches and plums), Fabaceae (acacias), Salicaceae (willows), and Myrtaceae (eucalyptus). Conversely, the adults are completely aphagous, meaning they possess atrophied mouthparts and do not feed during their short adult life, relying exclusively on energy reserves accumulated as lipids during their caterpillar stage.

Behavior: This organism is strictly nocturnal during its adult stage, a period when males fly actively in search of females, guided by chemical cues. During the day, they remain motionless on tree trunks or foliage. If disturbed, the moth performs a deimatic display, abruptly raising its forewings to expose the striking hindwing eyespots, thereby scaring away predators such as birds and small mammals. The caterpillars exhibit gregarious behavior during their early developmental instars to optimize foraging and defense, becoming solitary and highly territorial in the final instars before pupation.

Reproduction: The reproductive cycle begins immediately after adult emergence, which typically occurs during spring and summer nights. The female releases highly volatile sex pheromones to attract males. Following copulation, which takes place on nocturnal vegetation, the female oviposits by depositing clusters of yellowish-white eggs on the underside of host plant leaves. After an incubation period of approximately 9 to 14 days, the larvae hatch. Larval development consists of several instars before they construct a tough silk cocoon, woven with leaf litter on the forest floor, where pupation occurs. This pupal stage can enter diapause during the colder winter months.

Conservation status: It is currently not globally evaluated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), thus lacking an official threat category on the Red List. However, it is considered a common and abundant species within its native range, facing no imminent threats of extinction, although it is occasionally targeted for local pest control due to the stinging nature of its caterpillars and their minor impact on fruit orchards.