Females call in males by emitting air-bourne pheromones at night.

Argema kuhnei??, female, Mbala, Zambia,
109mm, August 29, 1971, courtesy of Dave T. Rolfe.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Cocoons are white and airy and hang from branches by a strong peduncle.

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.

Monotes katangensis.......

Yellow wood

Return to Argema Genus

Go to Index for African Saturniidae

Go to Main Index for all Worldwide 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.

The genus name comes from the Greek word 'argema", meaning a cataract in the eye. This is probably meant to be descriptive of the thick rings around the eyespots of these moths.

The species name "kuhnei", is honourific for K. W. Kuhne.