DISTRIBUTION:

Nudaurelia nyassana cleoris flies in Crete Congo-Nil (Democratic Republic of the Congo) and possibly southwards to Malawi. Pinhey (1972) puts in the gueinzii group and indicates it is a dark brown form from the Northern Congo. Thierry Bouyer treats it as a subspecies of N. nyassana and indicates it is a localized (brown) subspecies from Crete Congo-Nil.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

The Nudaurelia nyassana cleoris moth probably flies in the month of January and possibly at other times.

Imbrasia cleoris larvae feed upon Prunus, Crataegus, Rosa and Ligustrum.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Eclosion is from underground pupae.

Both sexes fly at night with the males coming in to lights around midnight, the scenting time of the females.

EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:

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.

Prunus Crataegus Rosa Ligustrum.......

Cherry Hawthorn Rose Privet

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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 Nudaurelia means 'naked gold' (Pinhey), and refers to the colouration of the specimen type Bombyx dione.

The species name "nyassana", is indicative of the collecting locale of the nominate subspecies in Nyassa, Malawi, north of Lake Malawi. (Pinhey). I do not know the reason for the subspecies name "cleoris".