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Updated as per Wiki Species, January 4, 2014 |
Urota sinope herbuloti (revised to U. koupensis by Bill Oehlke),
88mm, 600m, Elone, March 18, 2006,
Sud Province, Cameroon, courtesy of Sebastian Brandner.
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 |
"African Midi Music" |
Both Urota koupensis and Urota herbuloti fly in Cameroon, and possibly they are even sympatric in Littoral. I am pretty sure that the male of Urota koupenis has a more pointed forewing apex with a slightly concave upper half of the outer margin, and a longer hindwing tail extensison and a more angulate white median band as compared to Urota herbuloti which was at one time considered a subspecies of Urota sinope.
The Urota Comparison plate provides a series of images in close proximity with some notes to hopefully help me and others with determinations. I do not have images of all species available for public display, but perhaps the locations and descriptions will help other viewers.
Almost all of the specimens with new designations existed in collections under the label of Urota sinope, and they are quite similar in appearance to sinope. I am not sure if Urota sinope is limited to southern Africa, being replaced by similar species in more northern locales, or if sinope flies in most of Africa, possibly even existing in the same habitats with the cryptic species. Perhaps some of the look-alikes will be synonymized, either with each other or with sinope.
Additional submissions of digital images with as much data as possible should help to improve the accuracy of this website. Verso images may also prove to be very helpful with determinations. All submissions are greatly appreciated, and all photos remain the property of respective photographers.
Urota koupensis larvae possibly ?? feed upon various Erythrina species (Coral tree), Laburnum (Bean tree), Robinia pseudoacacia (Black locust/False acacia) and Sclerocarya caffra (Wild mango).
Males also have tail-like extensions on the lower wings.
Elysistemon
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Coral tree |
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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.
According to Pinhey, 1972, "Urota" means "tailed ear" or ear-shaped tail.
The species name, "koupensis" is indicative of a specimen type locale on Mt. Koupé, Loum, Littoral Cameroun, Cameroun.
Urota koupensis male, Cameroon,
on my home computer only.