SYNTHERATA OF THE WORLD

"This small Oriental genus consists of several orange-marked yellow species.... Diagnostic features are uniformity, rather than asymmetry, of the rings of the ocelli; an undivided, dorsally domed uncus in the male genitalia; a short broad aedeagus with two apical fields of scobination, and a densely and robustly scobinate apex to the conical vesica; strong pouches lateral to the ostium in the female genitalia; a signum consisting of a single spine in the bursa copulatrix."

Bjorn Fjellstad writes, "When I went to have a look at the Syntherata group on your website, I noticed the photo on top of that page. It says its a photo of Syntherata janetta female courtesy of Leroy Simon. I don’t know where the photo was taken, but its not a female, but a Syntherata sp. male. Syntherata janetta males have a more curved wingtip. Three Syntherata species are almost impossible to determine down to species 100% unless they have been reared, as the only way to tell them apart is by looking at the different instars of the larvae. They all have similar colour forms as adults. The one of the photo can be a male of either S. escarlata, S. melvilla or S. pseudescarlata. These three species overlap in distribution. If you have a look at my photos, you will see what I’m talking about. All my photos of adults are from reared species, except from some photos of S. janetta and S. leonae, which can be determined down to species, either by wing shape or location where collected."

Bjorn maintains an excellent website, linked from his credits page, and provides much valuable information. He has granted me permission to use his many images of Saturniidae from Australia, and I am in process of updating files with his images, foodplants, ranges, flight times, etc.

There are quite a few images on WLSS which are being reassigned, based on new determinations. Again, many thanks to those photographers for their original submissions. I am going through Entomo-Satsphingia journals to do updates, but I do not have all of the other publications where new names have been put forward. None-the-less, progress is being made.

P indicates an image is available.

SYNTHERATA MAASSEN, 1873

Syntherata belongs to the Saturniini tribe of Subfamily Saturniinae, Family Saturniidae.

Please note: The advent of DNA barcoding has resulted in many new descriptions. In many cases the "new" species are quite similar to existing species. Do not be surprised if even more refined testing or revisions of thresholds of difference in the future results in some synonymies or even more species/subspecies. Subsequent rearing may or may not indicate differences in larval appearance. It will be interesting to see how this all pans out.

Listing of Syntherata

N? aliena Niepelt, 1934, Papua New Guinea; probably a synonym of Syntherata janetta
N? antipoda Boisduval, 1875, Papua New Guinea
N apicalis Bouvier, 1928 New Guinea (West Irian)
N arfakiana Brechlin 2010 Irian Jawa = West Papua
N brunnea Eckerlein, 1935, Papua New Guinea; probably a synonym of Syntherata janetta
N cernyi Brechlin 2010 Irian Jawa = West Papua
P degroofi, Paukstadt, U., Paukstadt, L. H., & Vecerik, Z. (2017) Misool Island, West Papua, Indonesia
N doboensis Paukstadt U. & Paukstadt L. H., 2004, Aru Archipelago, southeastern Moluccas, Indonesia
N engaiana Brechlin 2010; Papua New Guinea
P escarlata D.A. Lane , E.D. Edwards & Naumann, 2010, Australia, Queensland, East Palmerston
N godeffroyi (Butler, 1882) New Britain
N godeffroyii michaschaarschmidti Brechlin 2010
P innescens Naumann & Brechlin, 2001 Indonesia: Moluccas: Seram
P janetta (White, 1843) New Guinea, Australia
insignis, disjunta and weymeri are all synonyms of janetta
N lagariana Brechlin 2010; Irian Jawa
P leoneae Lane, 2003 Atherton Tableland, Queensland, Australia
P? loepoides Butler, 1880 Borneo, Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia
N malukuensis Paukstadt, U. & Paukstadt, L. H. (2005) Aru Archipelago, Indonesia
N melvilla (Westwood, 1853) Australia: NT: Darwin
purpurascens is a synonym of melvilla
N minoris Brechlin 2010; Papua New Guinea
N mirata D.A. Lane , E.D. Edwards & Naumann, 2010 Australia: Queensland: Norman River, Normanton.
N naessigi Peigler, 1992 Papua New Guinea, Kiriwina (= Trobriand) Islands
N okapiana Brechlin 2010; Papua New Guinea
N papuensis Brechlin 2010; Papua New Guinea
N parvoantennata Brechlin 2010 Irian Jawa
N pristina (Walker, 1865) Moluccas, Indonesia
N pseudescarlata D.A. Lane , E.D. Edwards & Naumann, 2010 Australia: Queensland: Dimbulah, Mareeba Tip
N rudloffi Brechlin 2010; Papua New Guinea
P sinjaevi Naumann & Brechlin, 2001 Indonesia, Halmahera
N? weymeri Maassen, 1873 Moluccas, Indonesia; probably (confirmed) a synonym of Syntherata janetta

It is likely that some of the species in the list below are synonymous with the species described by Brechlin, 2010. I am also not sure of the actual publication dates of the two different authors. For species that are synonymous, the one having the actual earliest publication circulation date would have precedence.

Six species of Syntherata Maassen, 1873 are here recorded from mainland Australia - Syntherata janetta (White, 1843), Syntherata leonae Lane, 2003, Syntherata melvilla (Westwood, 1853) stat. rev., Syntherata mirata sp. n., Syntherata escarlata sp. n., and Syntherata pseudescarlata sp. n. These six species are here recorded, figured and described, together with their life histories. A larval key is presented for these species, and records provided on their known distributions and biologies. The synonymy of Syntherata insignis (Walker, 1869), Syntherata disjuncta (Walker, 1865), and Syntherata weymeri Maassen, 1873 with S. janetta is confirmed, and Syntherata purpurascens (Walker, 1865) syn. nov. is placed in new synonymy with S. melvilla. Male neotypes of S. janetta and S. purpurascens plus the male lectotype of S. disjuncta are designated and figured.

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Syntherata Comparison Table, New Guinea, Naumann

Syntherata anettae, Naumann, D.A. Lane & Löffler, 2009, eastern Irian Jaya near Tekai
Syntherata bettinae, Naumann, D.A. Lane & Löffler, 2009, northwestern Irian Jaya: Manokwari and Nabire and near Ok Sibil; possibly west central Papua New Guinea
Syntherata erici Naumann, D.A. Lane & Löffler, 2009, northern Irian Jaya near Nabire, Mulia, Tekai, Sentani
Syntherata gracilis, Naumann, D.A. Lane & Löffler, 2009, eastern Papua New Guinea; near Merobe and Kosipe
Syntherata groenendaeli, Naumann, D.A. Lane & Löffler, 2009, northern Irian Jaya near Sentani
Syntherata haiaensis, Naumann, D.A. Lane & Löffler, 2009, Papua New Guinea; near Vanimo and Kosipe, Haia (HT), Angabunga, Port Moresby
Syntherata hoffmanni, Naumann, D.A. Lane & Löffler, 2009, northern Irian Jaya near Mulia and near Sentani
Syntherata labriquei, Naumann, D.A. Lane & Löffler, 2009, southeastern Papua New Guinea: Port Moresby, Kosipe
Syntherata lilianae, Naumann, D.A. Lane & Löffler, 2009, southern Irian Jaya
Syntherata marlenae, Naumann, D.A. Lane & Löffler, 2009, western Papua New Guinea; most of Irian Jaya
Syntherata pierrei, Naumann, D.A. Lane & Löffler, 2009, Papua New Guinea; near Angabunga
???Syntherata vincenti, Naumann, D.A. Lane & Löffler, 2009, New Guinea ???

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Syntherata Comparison Table, New Guinea, Brechlin

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