Venezuelan Poodle Moth

In 2009, German zoologist Dr. Arthur Anker photographed a moth in the Canaima National Park of the Gran Sabana region of Venezuela, and the photograph went "viral" on the internet, including hoaxes claiming to be additional photos. Anker initially captioned his photo as "Poodle moth, Venezuela", and later added " (Artace sp, perhaps A. cribaria)".

Dr. John E. Rawlins from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History concurred with Anker's suggestion of the genus Artace for the identification:

Here’s my vote/guess to ID the poodle moth. The antenna is distinctive. "Lasiocampidae: Artace or a related genus, probably not Artace cribraria (presumably North America to Argentina, but nobody has revised this group from Mexico south). There are more than a dozen described South American species of Artace, but their delimitation, validity, and even their generic placement is uncertain. It will take two things to solve this problem: a comprehensive revision of Artace and kin, plus an actual specimen of a genuine “Venezuelan poodle moth.”

*While only one "Venezuelan Poodle Moth" has been documented, the information given by Dr. John E. Rawlins suggests that it was truly an Artace Moth and, therefore, many have been seen in the wild dating before and since 2009.