Periphoba albata
Updated as per Lemaire's Hemileucinae 2002, November 24, 2005

Periphoba albata
per-ih-FOH-buhMal-BAY-tuh
(Draudt, 1930) Dirphia albata

Periphoba albata male (Mexico) courtesy of Dr. Manuel A. Balcazar Lara

TAXONOMY:

Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802
Family: Saturniidae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834
Subfamily: Hemileucinae, Grote & Robinson, 1866
Tribe: Hemileucinae, Grote & Robinson, 1866
Genus: Periphoba, Hubner, 1820

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DISTRIBUTION:

Periphoba albata (wingspan: males: 61-72mm; females: probably larger) flies in
Mexico: probably Chiapas; and
Honduras; and
probably Guatemala?

Visit Identification Aides: Periphoba chart; Mexico and Central America.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Larval hosts are unknown.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

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

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Eggs are probably deposited in clusters on hostplant foliage.

Periphoba albata larvae probably are highly gregarious and probably have the urticating spines typical of larvae from the Subfamily Hemileucinae.

The long pair of posterior "spikes" and the more extensive anterior" spinage" are typical of mature Periphoba larvae.

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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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.

I do not know the source of the genus name "Periphoba" chosen by Hubner in 1820.

The species name "albata" is probably indicative of the "white" ground colour of the wings.

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