Paradirphia fumosa trio, Sinaloa-Durango border, Mexico,
July 2019, courtesy of Bernhard Wenczel.

TAXONOMY: Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802 Family: Saturniidae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834 Subfamily: Hemileucinae, Grote & Robinson, 1866 Tribe: Hemileucinae, Grote & Robinson, 1866 Genus: Paradirphia Michener, 1949

DISTRIBUTION:

Paradirphia fumosa fumosa (wingspan: males: 52-64mm; females: 70mm // forewng length: m: 27-35mm; f: 38mm) flies in Jalisco, Colima, Michoacan, Morelos (Type), Puebla, Guerrero and Oaxaca, Mexico.

Lemaire equates Periphoba michoacana (Beutelspacher) with P. fumosa, but Brechlin & Meister, 2017, give P. michoacana full species status, and michoacana may replace fumosa in Michoacan.

Other new species, described in 2017, might replace fumosa in eastern states.

Paradirphia fumosa male, Sinaloa-Durango border, Mexico,
courtesy of Viktor Suter and Bernhard Wenczel.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Natural larval hosts are unknown, but Bernhard Wenczel reports rearing success on willow.

This species is on the wing from late May until early August.

Paradirphia fumosa male, Sinaloa-Durango border, Mexico,
courtesy of Viktor Suter and Bernhard Wenczel.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

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

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Eggs are deposited in clusters on hostplant foliage.

Paradirphia fumosa larvae are highly gregarious and have the urticating spines typical of larvae from the Subfamily Hemileucinae. Bernhard Wenczel reports they feed on smooth, hairless and long leafed willow, and reach a length of 7 cm at completion of 6th instar.

Paradirphia fumosa sixth instar, Mexico,
courtesy of Bernhard Wenczel and Viktor Suter

Paradirphia fumosa sixth instar, Mexico,
courtesy of Bernhard Wenczel and Viktor Suter

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.

Salix aurita Salix humilis ....... Salix interior

hairless willow smooth willow long-leafed willow

Return to Paradirphia Index

Return to Main Saturniidae Index

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 "Paradirphia" chosen by Michener in 1849, but it probably has to do with the similarity of these moths to those in the genus Dirphia.

The species name "fumosa" probably refers to the smokey appearance of the wings.

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