Gonimbrasia (Nudaurelia) nyassana
nood-aur-REEL-ee-uhMnye-ahs-SAN-nuh
(Rothschild, 1907) (Imbrasia)

Nudaurelia nyassana (male), Tanzania, courtesy of Eric van Schayck.

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: Bunaeini, Packard, 1902 Genus: Gonimbrasia, Butler, 1878 or Genus: Nudaurelia Rothschild, 1895

MIDI MUSIC Wind Beneath My Wings copyright C. Odenkirk MIDI CITY ON.OFF <bgsound src="wings.mid" LOOP=FOREVER>

DISTRIBUTION:

Nudaurelia nyassana (wingspan: males: approximately 80mm; females: probably larger) flies in Tanzania and in northern Malawi.

Thierry Bouyer, 1999, indicates that Nudaurelia murphyi is a synonym of N. nyassana.

Nudaurelia murphyi male (verso), Nyika, Malawi, 7000ft., December, Juniper forest
Lepidoptera Types of the Royal Museum for Central Africa

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

A specimen of Nudaurelia murphyi was taken in Nyika, in northern Malawi in December.

Nudaurelia nyassana larval hosts are unknown.

Nudaurelia murphyi male (verso), Nyika, Malawi, 7000ft., December, Juniper forest
Lepidoptera Types of the Royal Museum for Central Africa

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:

Larvae pupate under soil near base of trees.

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 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 in Nyassa, Malawi, north of Lake Malawi. (Pinhey). The species name "murphyi", is honourific for collector R. J. Murphy.