DISTRIBUTION:

Hylesia umbratula (wingspan: males: 42-48mm; females: 53-57mm) flies in
Mexico: Tabasco, Chiapas, Quintana Roo;
Belize: Cayo;
Guatemala: El Peten; and
? Ecuador: ? Los Rios, ? Manabi; and probably in
Colombia if the Ecuadorian records are correct. It may also be in Honduras: Copan; Costa Rica and Panama in deciduous forests, but Lemaire indicates umbratula may just be a dry seasonal form of umbrata. If a good species, it may be limited to Mexico, Belize and Guatemala.

Hylesia umbratula female, wingspan 55mm, Copan, Honduras, courtesy of Dr. Ronald D. Cave,
tentative id by Bill Oehlke

Ground colour of the wings is lighter than that of very similar Hylesia umbrata, and the abdomen is yellowish brown instead of the rosy brown of umbrata. Lemaire indicates he found no difference in the genitalia of the two species and indicates H. umbratula may be a dry seasonal form of H.umbrata.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Larval hosts are unknown.

Specimens have been taken in February, July-August-September-October.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Females extend a scent gland from the tip of the abdomen, and the night-flying males pickup and track the airbourne pheromone plume with their well-developed antennae.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Eggs are deposited in clusters on hostplant foliage.

Hylesia umbratula larvae are highly gregarious and have the urticating spines typical of larvae from the Subfamily Hemileucinae.

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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