Eosia insignis

Eosia insignis

First described in Entomologia Africana 13 (2): 53-59.

Eosia digennaroi
ee-OHS-ee-uhMdye-jen-NAHR-oh-eye
Bouyer, 2008

Eosia digennaroi HT female, 52mm, Sof Omar, Ethiopia,
April 2006, photo by Jonathan Brecko, on my home computer only.
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: Eosia, Le Cerf, 1911

MIDI MUSIC

"African Midi Music"

ON.OFF

DISTRIBUTION:

Eosia digennaroi (Forewing length: males: females: 30mm) (wingspan: males ; females: 52mm), flies in
Ethiopia: Sof Omar.
The female is an almost uniform pinkish-orangey-brown with a pointed forewing apex and a dentate fw outer margin, pointed at each wing vein. There is a dark black bar at the end of the fw cell and three additional distinct black spots above and outside the cell.
The hindwing has a slightly greyer median area, with very dentate, concolorous am and pm lines, and numerous pale orange circles. The hindwing outer margin is also quite dentate/scalloped with projections at each wing vein.
I suspect this species probably replaces E. insignis in Ethiopia, with insignis limited to Kenya and northeastern Tanzania. In western Udzungwa, Tanzania, one is more likely to encounter Eosia minettii, based on DNA barcoding analysis.

Eosia insignis female (corrected to E. digennaroi), sorry, image not available.

Eosia insignis female (verso) (corrected to E. digennaroi), sorry, image not available.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

The Holotype female was taken in April. There may be additional flight months.
Larval host are unknown.
Eosia digennaroi HT female (verso), 52mm, Sof Omar, Ethiopia,
April 2006, photo by Jonathan Brecko, on my home computer only.

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.
Possibly the males are diurnal, and they may be predominantly white. I have not seen a male as of yet.

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.

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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 "Eosia", I believe, is another name for earth or large body of land.
The species name, "digennaroi", is honourific for Di Gennaro.