Automeris zurobara

Updated from Lemaire's Hemileucinae, 2002, October 13, 2005; January 12, 2007; April 30, 2007
Updated as per communication from Jean Michel Maes (Nicaragua), March 2007
Updated as per http://www.inbio.ac.cr/bims/k02/p05/c029/o0119/f00885.htm IB, April 2008
Updated as per personal communication with Karl Piela (Quercus alba, white oak); November 18, 2011
Updated as per CSIRO PUBLISHING: Invertebrate Systematics, 2012, 26, 478–505 http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/IS12038:
"What happens to the traditional taxonomy when a wellknown tropical saturniid moth fauna is DNA barcoded?; Dan Janzen, et.al.;
Received 8 May 2012, accepted 22 September 2012, published online 19 December 2012; April 23, 2013

Automeris zurobara,
Druce, 1886

Photo (female) courtesy of Bernhard Jost.

TAXONOMY:

Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802
Family: Saturniidae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834
Subfamily: Hemileucinae, Grote & Robinson, 1866
Tribe: Hemileucini, Grote & Robinson, 1866
Genus: Automeris, Hubner, [1819]

MIDI MUSIC

"Someone to Watch Over Me"
copyright C. Odenkirk

ON.OFF

DISTRIBUTION:

Automeris zurobara (wingspan: males: 69-86mm; females: 84-103mm) flies in tropical rain forests and savannas at elevations of 170 - 1000 m in
Costa Rica: Guanacaste, Puntarenas (CL), San Jose (IB);
Venezuela: Distrito Federal, Miranda, Aragua, Barinas, Tachira.

General records also list
southern Mexico: Chiapas;
western Guatemala: Escuintla, Guatemala, and probably Huehuetenango, Quetzaltenango, Totonicapan, Suchitepequez, Soloa, Chimaltenango, Sacatepequez;
western El Salvador: Ahuachapan;
Trinidad and Tobago: St. George West; and
northern Colombia.

It also ocurs in
Panama and
possibly Honduras.

Status in Nicaragua is unclear.

Dan Janzen (2012) reports this moth as a dry forest species in Guanacaste, Costa Rica.

The fw is an almost uniform greyish-beige with a lighter yellow submarginal line and a thin yellow line inside the slightly preapical, concave (sometimes straight) brown pm line. The am line is faint, outwardly faintly lined with yellow. The cell is slightly darker grey. A grey bar extends from the costa to the pm line almost halfway between the apex and cell. The outer margin tends to be slightly darker and is almost straight.

The large, black, oval hindwing pupil, surrounded by a light brown iris, helps to distinguish this species. Sometimes there is a light dusting of white scales on the pupil. The hw ground colour is a uniform orange with a thin, slightly undulating pm line, outwardly lined with orange, grey orange, a lighter band and then a grey outer margin.

The abdomen is orange and is without rings.

Automeris zurobara male, courtesy of Thibaud Decaens.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Moths are on the wing January, April-December, suggesting a pattern of continuous brooding.

Larvae accept Inga vera, Robinia pseudoacacia and Gleditsia triacanthos in the laboratory. Thibaud Decaens has used Pyracantha sp. as a larval host. Karl Piela reports success rearing this species on White Oak, Quercus alba.

Natural hosts are unknown.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS, AND PUPAE:

Eggs are deposited in clusters of 6-40+ on hostplant twigs. Larvae have urticating spines and are gregarious.
First instar larvae are yellow-green.

Larvae become paler as they progress and branching spines almost have a "soft" appearance.

Automeris zurobara final instar, courtesy of Thibaud Decaens.

Pupae are usually affixed by silk to inside of cocoon at the cremaster.

Wing, leg, eye, and antennae structures are evident on the exposed pupal shell.

All images on this page are courtesy of Bernhard Jost.

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.