Attacus paraliae
Updated as per personal communication with Ulrich Paukstadt
Updated as per Richard S. Peigler's A Revision of the Indo-Australian Genus Attacus
Updated as per personal communication with Andy Rosen, January 23, 2012; November 8, 2015

Attacus paraliae
Peigler, 1985

Attacus paraliae?? male, Papua New Guinea??, courtesy of Andy Rosen.

Andy sent me the image, above, indicating he had purchased it on Ebay where it was listed as being from Papua New Guinea. Either there was 1) a reporting error regarding location, 2) a significant range extension into PNG, or 3) the specimen represents an undescribed species. There are some slight differences from Peigler's depiction of A. paraliae so I think this is possibly an undescribed species.

TAXONOMY:

Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802
Family: Saturniidae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834
Subfamily: Saturniinae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834
Tribe: Attacini, Blanchard, 1840
Genus: Attacus, Linnaeus

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DISTRIBUTION:

The Attacus paraliae moth flies in Sulawesi.

This species is known from the Banggai Archipelago and, outside political borders of Sulawesi, from the nearby Sula Islands, Province Central Moluccas. The preimaginal instars still remain unknown.

The forewing apex is falcate yet rounded; the fenestrae are small and without accessory fenestrae; the hindwing tapers to a point.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

A single record exists for November. Life cycle is unknown.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Females extend a scent gland and emit an airbourne pheromone into the night sky. Males fly into the wind and pick up the scent with their highly developed antennae.

Attacus paraliae female, Palau Peleng, Indonesia,
digital reconstruction (right side) by Bill Oehlke from Ulrich Paukstadt image.

Attacus paraliae female, 203mm, Peleng Island, Indonesia,
August 2015, courtesy of Andy Rosen.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Eggs are relatively large. Larvae pass through five instars and the double-walled cocoon hangs from the tree via a strong silken peduncle.

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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