VEGETIA OF THE WORLD
Vegetia ducalis pair, copyright protected, courtesy of Kirby Wolfe.
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Updated as per Pinhey's Emperor Moths of South and South-Central Africa, 1972, April 25, 2006 Updated as per Bouyer's Catalogue of African Saturniidae, 1999, April 25, 2006 Updated as per Oberprieler's The Emperor Moths of Namibia, April 25, 2006 |
The Vegetia belong to the tribe Micragonini of the Subfamily Saturniinae, Family Saturniidae.These moths fly in Africa and seem restricted to the extreme sothwestern corner. In V. ducalis, the outer whitish-yellowish band is divided into small spots with the lighter colour only slightly more extensive than the black. The outer margin is convex. In V. grimmia, the same whitish outer band is continuous. In V. dewitzi the band is consistently divided by the thin black wing veins into fairly uniform, distinctively larger cream-coloured segments. The forewing outer margin is relatively straight. Vegetia ducalis larval image, copyright protected, by Kirby Wolfe.
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Eggs are laid in clusters of 10-20 on hostplant twigs, but larvae are solitary daytime feeders when they move to outward, exposed branches of hostplant. At night larvae hide near dense centers of bush.
Disturbed larvae curl up and expose urticating spines.
Pupation is in a thin, parchment like cocoon near the base of the hostplant.
P dewitzi
(Maassen & Weyding, 1885) Karoo in
South Africa,
Namibia
P ducalis
Jordan, 1922 Cape Province and Namaqualand in
South Africa;
Namibia
P grimmia
(Geyer, 1831) extreme south of
Cape Province,
South Africa
P legraini Bouyer, 2004
Namibia
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