DISTRIBUTION:

Lemaireodirphia knorkei (wingspan: males: mm; females: mm // forewing length: males: 48-52mm; females: 50-53mm) flies in
Mexico: Durango (near Durango-Sinaloa border); at elevations near 1900.

This species has an almost uniform, light, bright, orange-beige ground colour. The wide white portion of the fw pml turns inward at the costa, and is slightly convex from the costa to M3, then runs straight to the inner margin. The white fw pml is outwardly lined with a diffuse, slightly darker beige-brown band.

Visit Lemaireodirphia Comparison Chart.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Larvae possibly feed on Platanus lindeniana, Prunus, Pyrus malus, Robinia pseudoacacia and Salix chilensis. Oak and/or Beech might work?? It would also be good to try Rose.

This species is on the wing in late July-August. 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 knorkei AT female, Durango, Mexico,
on my home computer only.

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.

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.

Platanus lindeniana Prunus Pyrus malus Robinia pseudoacacia..... Salix chilensis

Plane Cherry Apple Black locust/False acacia Willow

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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 "knorkei" is honourific for Heinrich Knorke, grandfather of entomologist Andreas Knorke.

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