DISTRIBUTION:

Lemaireodirphia chiapasiana (wingspan: males: mm; females: mm // forewing length: males: 46-50mm; females: 49-53mm) flies in
Mexico: Chiapas; at elevations near 789-2390m.

This is a relatively large species with a grey-brown ground colour.

The black forewing pm line seems more angulate at M2 than in other species. The inner white lining is broken, more or less represented only by white vein segments.

Lemaireodirphia chiapasiana male, San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico,
2500m, pine, oak, willow forests, courtesy of Bernhard Wenzel and Viktor Suter.

Visit Lemaireodirphia Comparison Chart.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Larvae have been reared on Quercus and Rosa.

This relatively common species is on the wing in May-June. There are probably additional flight months.

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.

Lemaireodirphia chiapasiana female, San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico,
2500m, pine, oak, willow forests, courtesy of Bernhard Wenzel and Viktor Suter.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS, AND PUPAE:

Eggs are deposited in clusters on hostplant foliage.

Lemaireodirphia albida larvae are highly gregarious and have the urticating spines typical of larvae from the Subfamily Hemileucinae.

Lemaireodirphia chiapasiana final instar, Chiapas, Mexico,
courtesy of Bernhard Wenczel

Larval Food Plants

It is hoped that this alphabetical listing followed by the common name of the anticipated foodplant will prove useful. The list is not exhaustive. Experimenting with closely related foodplants is worthwhile.

Quercus ....... Rosa

Oak Rose

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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.

Some of the early describers/namers chose genus and species names indicating some character of the insect, but more often, they simply chose names from Greek or Roman mythology or history.

Those species names which end in "ensis" indicate a specimen locale, and those which end in "i", pronounced "eye", honour a contempory friend/collector/etc.

The genus name "Lemaireodirphia" is both honourific of Claude Lemaire and indicative of a great similarity to moths in the genus Dirphia.

The species name "chiapasiana" is indicative of a specimen type locale in Chiapas, Mexico.

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Lemaireodirphia chiapasiana HT male, Chiapas, Mexico,
on my home computer only.

Lemaireodirphia chiapasiana AT female, Chiapas, Mexico,
on my home computer only.