Maltagorea pseudovulpina
Updated as per Bouyer's Catalogue of African Saturniidae, 1999, 2004
Updated as per personal conversation with and images from Rodolphe Rougerie, 2005
Updated as per personal conversation with and images from Thierry Bouyer, May 2006
Updated as per Wiki Species
Updated as per personal communication with Patrick Basquin (larger antennae; flight time); December 31, 2014

Maltagorea pseudovulpina
mal-tuh-GOR-ee-uhMsue-doh-vul-PEEN-uh
Basquin & Rougerie, 2009

Maltagorea pseudovulpina male, Lakato, Moramanga, Madagascar,
courtesy of Patrick Basquin.

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: Maltagorea, Bouyer, 1993

MIDI MUSIC

"African Midi Music"

ON.OFF
<bgsound src="Dafrican.mid" LOOP=FOREVER>

DISTRIBUTION:

Maltagorea pseudovulpina (wingspan: males: 55mm; females: ) flies in
Madagascar: Province de l'Est, district de Moramanga, fôret de Lakato, alt. 1150 m.

To the "naked" eye Maltagorea pseudovulpina can only be distinguished from M. vulpina (Butler, 1880) by subtle differences in appearance (larger male antennae in pseudovulpina) and by a specific flight activity time of the male (23:00 for vulpina; 04:00 for pseudovulpina). DNA barcodes bring unequivocal support to the distinction of the new species.

Maltagorea pseudovulpina male (antennae), Lakato, Moramanga, Madagascar,
courtesy of Patrick Basquin.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Specimens have been taken in February. There are probably additional flight months.

Larval host is unknown.

Maltagorea pseudovulpina male (spread), Lakato, Moramanga, Madagascar,
courtesy of Patrick Basquin.

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.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Pupation is probably in an underground chamber.

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.

The genus name Maltagorea is a contraction of the Malagassy branch of the Tagoropsis / Pseudantherea group.

Mal from Malagassy Republic (Madagascar);
tago from Tagoropsis:
rea from Pseudantherea

The species name pseudovulpina indicates this species is very similar to vulpina which means "like a fox" and might ?? refer to the colour of this species.