Antistathmoptera daltonae
Updated as per Pinhey's Emperor Moths of South and South-Central Africa, 1972, April 17, 2006
Updated as per Bouyer's Catalogue of African Saturniidae, 1999, April 17, 2006

Antistathmoptera daltonae
ann-tye-stath-mop-TER-uhMDAHL-ton-ay
Tams, 1935

Antistathmoptera daltonae, Usambara Mountains, Tanzania, courtesy of Norbert J. Cordeiro.

This site has been created by Bill Oehlke at oehlkew@islandtelecom.com
Comments, suggestions and/or additional information are welcomed by Bill.

TAXONOMY:

Superfamily: Bombycoidea Latreille, 1802
Family: Saturniidae Boisduval, [1837] 1834
Subfamily: Saturniinae Boisduval, [1837] 1834
Tribe: Urotini, Packard, 1902
Genus: Antistathmoptera, Tams, 1935

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DISTRIBUTION:

The Frog Foot, Antistathmoptera daltonae, flies in the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania, Africa. Rolf Oberprieler reports the subspecies A. d. rectangulata flies in Zimbabwe.

The following short quote is from Pinhey's book Emperor Moths of South and South-Central Africa (1972), courtesy of Rodolphe Rougerie.

"Typical daltonae from North East Tanzania is much larger than the southerly race rectangulata and has the forewing in the male about 70 mm, tail extension of hindwing 110 mm. Hindwing at apex obtuse-angled, not right-angled as in the southern race."

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Larvae feed on Cordyla pinnata. HOSTS.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Females emit an airbourne pheromone and males track the scent with their antennae by flying in a zigzag pattern into the wind.

Antistathmoptera daltonae daltonae courtesy of Theron Morgan-Brown.

Theron is in the business of rearing local butterflies, but he reports, "Yes, there are a few other large moths up here that we see from time to time. We had one day with three individuals with the long tails on the building and non since. There is another species without tails that is fairly large and yellow."

Visit the Amani Butterfly Project in northeastern Tanzania.

Theron can be reached at kimbaije@yahoo.com

EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:


Larval Food Plants


It is hoped that this alphabetical listing followed by the common name of the foodplant will prove useful. The list is not exhaustive. Experimenting with closely related foodplants is worthwhile.

Cordyla pinnata .......

Bushmango/muTondo

Return to Antistathmoptera genus

Go to Index for African Saturniidae

Go to Main Index for all Saturniidae

The pronunciation of scientific names is troublesome for many. The "suggestion" at the top of the page is merely a suggestion. It is based on commonly accepted English pronunciation of Greek names and/or some fairly well accepted "rules" for latinized scientific names.

The suggested pronunciations, on this page and on other pages, are primarily put forward to assist those who hear with internal ears as they read.

There are many collectors from different countries whose intonations and accents would be different.

Some of the early describers/namers chose genus and species names indicating some character of the insect, but more often, they simply chose names from Greek or Roman mythology or history.

Those species names which end in "ensis" indicate a specimen locale, and those which end in "i", pronounced "eye", honour a contempory friend/collector/etc.

According to Pinhey, 1972, "Antistathmoptera" means "wings not formed with a carpenter's chalk line", and this undoubtedly refers to the unusual shape of the wings.

The species name, "daltonae" is honourific for a female railway worker, Mrs. Edith Dalton, of Tanga in northeastern Tanzania.