PSEUDOBUNAEA OF THE WORLD

The Alindabunaea are members of the Bunaeini tribe of Subfamily Saturniinae, Family Saturniidae. These moths fly in Africa and surrounding islands. Moths are usually classified as Pseudobunaea Bouvier, 1927; with Alindabunaea being a junior synonym for Pseudobunaea.

P indicates an image is available.

At maturity, larvae descend tree trunks to pupate in underground chambers.

Pseudobunaea irius larva, copyright Kirby Wolfe

With the advent of DNA barcoding analysis (2008), many new Saturniidae species have been named, including many Pseudobunaea species from the various mountain ranges in Tanzania.

The following link, Tanzania Pseudobunaea Comparison Chart, will hopefully help me and others to determine species as they become available for posting.

I will be using information on Wiki Species and scientific journal publications to post information and write my own descriptions of the Tanzanian Pseudobunaea. If you have digital images that you can submmit with data (wingspan, elevation, date, precise location), I will do my best to confirm your ids or offer suggestions, and will incorporate your images, credited to you, into the respective files. Please help improve the scope and accuracy of this site by submitting images. All photos remain the property of respective photographers.

Listing of Alindabunaea now Pseudobunaea

P alinda (Drury, 1782) Guinea Conakry, Ivory Coast; Togo; Cameroon; Gabon; Republic of Central Africa; Kenya; DR Congo; ?? Nigeria, ?? Liberia, Benin
N alinda deaconi Stoneham, 1962 Nairobi, Kenya
B bjornstadi Bouyer, 2006, Tanzania: Kibondo District, 11 km S of bridge over Malagarasi River, 1100 m; October
N bondwana Darge, 2009, Tanzania, Morogoro Region, Uluguru Mts., Bondwa, 2000 m., December
P callista (Jordan, 1910) Zambia; Angola; Katanga (southern DR Congo); Malawi
N claryi Darge, 2009, Tanzania, Tanga Region, Nguru Mts., 2000 m., August
P cleopatra (Aurivillius, 1893) Cameroon; Gabon; Republic of Central Africa; DR Congo; and probably PR Congo
catochra (Karsch, 1892) is same as cleopatra
N cleopatra orientalis Rougeot, 1972 Kenya; ?? Tanzania
N elucida Darge, 2009, Tanzania, Arusha Region, Mt. Meru, Campsite 3, 03°24.864'S 036°50.626'E, 1680 m, October
P epithyrena (Maassen & Weyding, 1885) Tanzania, Cameroon, Republic of Central Africa
N epithyrena immaculata Bouvier, 1930 Portugese Africa
N epithyrena inornata (Sonthonnax, 1899) Sansibar, Tanzania
N epithyrena melinde (Maassen & Weyding, 1885) Sansibar, Tanzania
P epithyrena maculata Bouvier, 1930 Kenya
P epithyrena natalensis (Aurivillius, 1893) South Africa: Natal, Zambia
N geita Darge, 2012, Tanzania, Mwanza Region, Geita Forest, Katolu Village, 02°53.522'S 032°09.442'E, 1304 m, October
P heyeri (Weymer, 1896) Burkina Faso
N heyeri barnsi Bouvier, 1930 Angola
N heyeri brunneli Rougeot, 1972 Moundou, Chad
N heyeri citrinarius (Gaede, 1927) Harrar, Ethiopia
N heyeri dayensis Rougeot & al., 1991 Djibouti Africa
P heyeri meloui (Riel, 1910) Gambia; Ivory Coast; ?? Kenya
N heyeri morlandi (Rothschild, 1907) Insel, Pemba, Tanzania
P illustris Weymer Cameroon; Gabon; DR Congo; Ivory Coast; Ghana (AM), Togo, Benin, Nigeria, PR Congo
P irius (Fabricius, 1793) Ivory Coast to Cameroon, Kenya and
Tanzania, south to South Africa and Malawi, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia; ?? Ghana, Benin, Togo, Nigeria
N iyayiensis Darge, 2012, Tanzania, Iringa Region, Iyayi savannah, 08°51.379'S 034°31.200'E, 1400 m., February
N kidugalensis Darge, 2012, Tanzania, Iringa Region, Kidugala, 09°08.518'S 034°37.530'E, 1755 m, January
N kituloensis Darge, 2010, Tanzania, Mbeya Region, border of the Kitulo National Park, Igoma Forest, 09°00.221'S 033°38.822'E, 2322 m., January
N kiyamyulwa Darge, 2012, Tanzania, Kagera Region, Kiyamyulwa, 02°08.740' S., 031°36.531' E., 1151 m., December
N mbiziana Darge, 2009, Tanzania, Rukwa Region, Mbizi Forest Reserve, 07°53.576'S 031°40.735'E, 2240 m, January
N megana Darge, 2012, Ethiopia, Sidamo Province, Mega, 1200 m., April
N miriakambana Darge, 2009, Tanzania, Arusha Region, Mt. Meru, Miriakamba Hut, 03°13.770'S 036°467.980'E, 2500 m., October
N mwangomoi Darge, 2009, Tanzania, Kilimanjaro Natinal Park, East, Marangu Forest, 03°13.001S 037°31.197'E, 2160 m., July
P pallens (Sonthannax, 1899) Central African Republic, PR Congo, DR Congo, Malawi, Zambia
P parathyrrena (Bouvier, 1927) Malawi, Zambia, DR Congo, ?? PR Congo
N santini Darge, 2009, Tanzania, Tanga Region, West Usambara, Magamba Forest, 04°42.594'S 038°14.239'E, 2100 m.
P seydeli LeCerf Dem. Rep. Congo incertae sedis
P tyrrhena tyrrhena (Westwood, 1849) South Africa, Zimbabwe
P tyrrhena fumida Darge, 2003 eastern Malawi
N tyrrhena gauthieri Darge, 1990 Island of Bioko, Africa
N tyrrhena maculata Bouvier, 1930 Kenya
P tyrrhena neglecta Darge, 2003 Sierra Leone; Liberia; Ivory Coast; Ghana; Togo; Benin; Nigeria; Cameroon; Republic of Central Africa; Gabon, ?? PR Congo, ?? DR Congo (Zaire)
P tyrrhena perchromatum Darge, 2003 Tanzania
P tyrrhena pratorum Darge, 1999 Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Republic of Central Africa
P vingerhoedti Bouyer, 2004 Guinea Konakry, Togo, Uganda, possibly Cameroon

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Thierry Bouyer lists the following as incertae sedis; those followed by an * are also listed by All Leps Barcode of Life.

sjostedti (Aurivillius, 1893) Bunaea
redlichi (Weymer, 1901) Bunaea, *
cyrene (Weymer, 1909) Bunaea, *
simplex Bouvier, 1928
seydeli Le Cerf; linked above
cremeri Oberthur, 1919

All Leps Barcode of Life lists the following which are not listed in Bouyer's 1999 Catalogue as distinct species:

Pseudobunaea barnsi Bouvier, 1930; Bouyer equates with heyeri
Pseudobunaea dayensis Rougeot, Bourgogne & Laporte, 1991; Bouyer equates with heyeri
Pseudobunaea deaconi Stoneham, 1962; Bouyer equates with alinda
Pseudobunaea immaculata Bouvier, 1930; Bouyer treats as subspecies of epithyrena
Pseudobunaea inornata (Sonthonnax, 1901); Bouyer treats as subspecies of epithyrena
Pseudobunaea melinde (Maassen & Weyding, 1885); Bouyer treats as subspecies of epithyrena
Pseudobunaea meloui (Riel, 1910); Bouyer equates with heyeri
Pseudobunaea morlandi (Rothschild, 1907); Bouyer equates with heyeri
Pseudobunaea natalensis (Aurivillius, 1893); Bouyer treats as subspecies of epithyrena
Pseudobunaea orientalis Rougeot, 1972; Bouyer treats as subspecies of cleopatra