Maltagorea vulpina tapiae
Updated as per personall communication with Patrick Basquin, December 22, 2014; image January 20, 2015

Maltagorea vulpina tapiae
mal-tuh-GOR-ee-uhMvull-PEE-nuhMTAGH-pee-uh
Basquin 2013

Maltagorea vulpina tapiae male, Col des Tapia, Antsirabe, 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 vulpina tapiae flies in
Madagascar: Col des Tapia, Antsirabe, Antananarivo, at elevations probably around 1500m.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Maltagorea vulpina tapiae larval hosts are unknown, but many Maltagorea species utilize the tapia tree as a larval host.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

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

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS 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.

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/subspecies names, vulpina tapiae, are indicative of a close similarity to M. vulpina and a possible mention of the anticipated larval host, tapia.