Urota sinope herbuloti

Urota sinope herbuloti

Updated as per Bouyer's Catalogue of African Saturniidae, 1999, April 17, 2006
Updated as per personal communication with Thierry Bouyer, May 2006

Urota sinope herbuloti
you-ROH-tuhMher-BEWE-lot-eye
Darge, 1975

Urota herbuloti male, Mt. Koupe, Littoral, 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
Family: Saturniidae Boisduval, [1837] 1834
Subfamily: Saturniinae Boisduval, [1837] 1834
Tribe: Urotini, Packard, 1902
Genus: Urota, Westwood, 1849

MIDI MUSIC

"African Midi Music"
copyright C. Odenkirk
MIDI CITY
ON.OFF

DISTRIBUTION:

Herbulot's Emperor, Urota herbuloti (wingspan: males: up to 88mm; females: ), flies in southwestern and southern Cameroon.
The holotype is from Cameroon, Nkongsamba, Moungo department, Littoral region, 15.v.1958, leg. Ph. Darge.
Bold systems reports them from Angola and Democratic Republic of the Congo as well. This moth was at one time considered a subspecies of Urota sinope.
Sebastian Brandner sent me this image from Nyassosso, Mt. Koupe, SW-Cameroun, from September 2005. Thierry Bouyer confirms they are Urota herbuloti. Thierry indicates U. herbuloti for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The tails of the above unspread male seem to have a slightly different shape (longer, thinner and emanating at a different angle) than those from South Africa as well as the spread male. I think the unspread male is Urota koupensis. Both Urota herbuloti and Urota koupensis fly in Cameroon.

With the advent of DNA barcoding analysis in 2008, hundreds of "new species" have been designated from the thousands of Saturniidae specimen samples submitted for examination.
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.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Urota herbuloti larvae probably feed upon various Erythrina species (Coral tree), Laburnum (Bean tree), Robinia pseudoacacia (Black locust/False acacia) and Sclerocarya caffra (Wild mango). There are flights in March (SB), May (type) and September (probably other months as well) in Cameroon.

Urota koupensis female, Mt. Koupe, Littoral, Cameroon,
courtesy of Sebastian Brandner.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Males, which are slightly smaller than females, use highly developed antennae to track the airbourne female pheromone at night.
Males also have tail-like extensions on the lower wings.

EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:

Larvae, mature at up to 70mm, pupate underground.

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.

Elysistemon
Erythrina abyssinica
Erythrina caffra
Erythrina lysistemon
Erythrina tomentosa.....
Eucalyptus
Laburnum
Robinia pseudoacacia
Sclerocarya caffra

Coral tree
Coral tree
Coral tree
Coral tree
Coral tree
Eucalyptus
Bean tree
Black locust/False acacia
Wild mango

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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, "sinope" is unknown, but may be after a Turkish seaport or Greek town. More likely it is for a woman (Greek mythology) unsuccessfully courted by Zeus.
The subspecies name herbuloti is honourific for Herbulot.