Syssphinx pescadori
Updated as per Lemaire's Ceratocampinae 1988, September 26, 2006
Updated as per personal communication with Bernhard Wenczel, July 9, 2012

Syssphinx pescadori
SIS-sfinkzMpez-KUH-dor-eye
Lemaire, 1988

Syssphinx pescadori male, Mexico, courtesy of Dr. Manuel A. Balcazar Lara

This site has been created by Bill Oehlke.
Comments, suggestions and/or additional information are welcomed by Bill.

TAXONOMY:

Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802
Family: Saturniidae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834
Subfamily: Ceratocampinae, Harris, 1841
was Syssphinginae: Packard, 1905
Genus: Syssphinx, Hu bner [1819] 1816

DISTRIBUTION:

Syssphinx pescadori (wingspan: males: 45-65mm; females: 68mm) flies in Mexico: Jalisco, Colima.

Forewing white discal spots tend to be large and median area is in strong contrast to rest of wing.

Bernhard Wenczel writes of the male, female and larval images orignally submitted by himself as pescadori:

"I’ve just checked the Syssphinx page, because there emerge some moths from a breed we did from some Oaxaca eggs – see the first pic. According to Lemaire’s book our earlier bred S. pescadori can’t be S. pescadori. because they came from the same location near San Gabriel de Mixtepec / Oaxaca which is far south from the spot Lemaire got his specimens of S. pescadori, while San Gabriel is located in the centre of S. quadrilineata’s Mexican distribution area! As for the pattern, shape and colors there’s no difference between the two species – just by the genitalia and their range.

"Considering this, I’m convinced the bug I’ve labeled as S. pescadori in fact is S. quadrilineata and we just did another rearing – which was a nice and quick one."

I have placed the previous images submitted by Bernhard and Viktor, as well as the new image, to the S. quadrilineata page.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Syssphinx pescadori moths are on the wing from July to October.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Syssphinx pescadori moths tend to eclose in the evening with scenting and mating occuring the same night between 10:00 pm and 2:00 am.

EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:

Syssphinx pescadori females deposit light green eggs either singly or in pairs on hostplant foliage. Eggs are translucent and caterpillar development can be seen through the eggshell. Warm weather results in a very short incubation time of five days. Larvae mature at various rates and have the enlarged thoracic scoli typical of Syssphinx. Silver, metallic markings reflect light at night. Pupation is in a subterranean chamber with eclosions following in as little as two weeks.

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.



Return to Syssphinx 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.

The genus name "Syssphinx" was probably chosen for the similarity of these moths (wing shape and resting position) to moths in the Sphingidae family.

The species name "pescadori" is honourific for Pescador.