DISTRIBUTION:

Antheraea broschi (wingspan: males: 95-120mm; females: 125-140 mm) flies in the vicinity of Sabah; Kinabalu Park, in East Malaysia, at elevations of 1500 m.

Stefan Naumann (2001) indicates a range in
west Malaysia: Pahang C.W. Gan;
east Malaysia: Sabah (DR);
Brunei: Temburung, Ulu Temburung (DR);
Borneo; and
Sumatra.

I has also been taken at 300m.

Antheraea broschi male

Antheraea broschi male, Frasers Hill, Pahang, Malaysia,
March 21, 2009, courtesy/copyright C. W. Gan,
digital restoration by Bill Oehlke.

Antheraea broschi male, Mt. Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia,
March 19 2001, 1509m, courtesy/copyright John Kamps.

Describer Stefan Naumann indicates there are only subtle, if any, differences in male genitalia between the species within the paphia/frithi-group or mylitta/frithi-group. Dr. Naumann also indicates some, if not all, of the specimens depicted as A. celebensis in publications by Holloway 1987 and Lampe 1984-85 are in fact A. broschi. Stefan indicates that many determinations within this group are largely based upon "wing shape, wing and eyespot pattern or size of the specimens in total, (when) eyspots or antennae or the proportions between these features give significant characters to separate different species."

Stefan equates A. ulrichbroschi with A. steinkeorum, with the latter having precedence. He equates A. myanmarensis with A. gschwandneri, with the latter having precedence.

Dr. Naumann recognizes that much clarification still needs to be done via observed rearings and DNA analysis.

My personal thoughts are that this muddle will be difficult to escape. Many Antheraea species have been taken from the Frasers Hill location in Pahang, Malaysia. I wonder how many naturally occuring hybrids there are and how much gene flow there might be from so many closesly related species in such a small area.

I am very much in agreement with the statement by Wolfgang Nassig below.

Wolgang Nassig writes, "Recently this new species (ulrichbroschi) of Antheraea (Antheraea) was described by U. & L.H. Paukstadt (1999b). There remains quite some doubt about this taxon, and at present it is as insufficiently characterized as most other taxa of this complex. It would be helpful if a detailed study based on reliable modern methods (e.g., pheromone analyses, alloenzyme electrophoresis, DNA fingerprint or similar) would show that such externally only vaguely defined taxa are really true species, being genetically separated from each other.

"In a later step, after having proven that they really are distinct species, it would then be helpful to look for reliably distinguishing external characters between them; also their preimaginal characters should be studied. There is presently a horrible lot of just vaguely defined taxa (usually based on weak external characters only) in Antheraea, but no one really can tell them reliably apart.

"In addition, the Malaysian Peninsula is not very strongly separated in zoogeographical terms from Borneo and Sumatra (the narrow sea between these lands dates back only for approximately 10,000 years, and this region forms the Sundanian subregion Neomalaya) on one side, and the Indochinese Peninsula on the other side. Endemic taxa known from West Malaysia only (and not as well found either in other parts of Neomalaya or on the Indochinese Peninsula!) are generally rare. — In a recent publication, Naumann (2001) described a new species Antheraea (Antheraea) broschi from Borneo, distributed in Sundaland, and synonymized A. (A.) ulrichbroschi with A. (A.) steinkeorum U. Paukstadt et al., 1999."

Antheraea broschi male, 105mm, Ulu Temburung, Brunei, February 1982, courtesy of Dave Rolfe.

Here are some of the characters used by Dr. Naumann to distinguish A. broschi:

Forewing eyespots: 5-9mm diameter; hyaline centers: 2-5mm diameter. Violet outer edging of pm line followed by mostly grey terminal area.

Antheraea broschi male, 106mm, Temburung, Brunei, February 22, 1982, 300m, courtesy of Dave Rolfe.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Teemu Klemetti offers the following regarding flight on peninsular Malaysia: "Antheraeas flew for the whole period 8th of March-26th of May. They may have peaks March-May and October-December - males 1:00-5:00 am, females 8:00pm (rosieri) or midnight (youngi, ulrichbroschi)."

Antheraea broschi male, 102mm, Sabah, Island of Borneo, courtesy of Dave Rolfe.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Males use highly developed antennae to detect female scent which is distributed into the wind. Males fly into the wind in a zigzag pattern to detect the pheromone and subsequently locate the female.

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.

"Antheraea" is derived from either the Latin "anthra" referring to pollen held in the anther (top part of stamen = male part of flower) or from the Greek feminine of "anthros" meaning flowery. There may be a link to the large and feathery antennae which distinguish many of the males of this genus.

The species name, broschi, is honourific for Ulrich Brosch.

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