Saturniidae of Australia
Attacus wardi
Coscinocera hercules Hercules Moth
Neodiphthera rhythmica
Neodiphthera sulphurea
Opodiphthera astrophela
Opodiphthera carnea
Opodiphthera engaea
Opodiphthera eucalypti Emperor Gum Moth
Opodiphthera excavus
Opodiphthera fervida
Opodiphthera helena Helena Gum Moth
Opodiphthera loranthi
Opodiphthera saccopoea
Syntherata janetta
Syntherata leoneae
There may be old records for some introduced species which are no longer present:
Samia cynthia Cynthia Moth;
introduced species (silk), currently not present
Antheraea paphia;
introduced species (silk),
currently not present
With a land area of 7,617,930 sq km, Australia is only slightly smaller than the United States. The large country-continent is completely surrounded by water, the Indian Ocean to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east, with several small seas to the north and south.
The climate is generally arid to semiarid with temperate regions in the south and the east, and tropical regions to the north.
Most of the terrain is low desert plateau. There is a fertile plain in the southeast.
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The southwestern portion of Western Australia is extremely dry and average annual rainfall has been decreasing since the 1970's. Only one species (Opodiphthera helena) of the fourteen Saturniidae species has been reported from south-western Western Australia. South Australia has a similar topography and climate and also hosts only Opodiphthera helena.
The Northern Territory is a bit more hospitable for Saturniidae and provides habitat for Attacus wardi, Opodiphthera eucalypti and Opodiphthera excavus.
All fourteen species can be found in temperate
Queensland. Opodiphthera loranthi, Opodiphthera eucalypti,
Syntherata janetta and
Opodiphthera saccopoea
fly throughout Queensland.
Attacus wardi flies near Darwin, and
Coscinocera hercules,
Neodiphthera sulphurea and
Opodiphthera excavus
are limited to northern Queensland.
Opodiphthera engaea flies in south-western Queensland;
Opodiphthera helena flies in southern and central Queensland;
Neodiphthera rhythmica flies in southern Queensland.
Opodiphthera astrophela flies in central Queensland, and
Syntherata leoneae flies in the
Atherton Tableland.
Opodiphthera fervida flies in
northeastern Queensland, from Mossman to Paluma.
Most of the species found in New South Wales
seem limited to the northern portion of that state:
Three species are widespread:
Opodiphthera eucalypti;
Opodiphthera helena;
Neodiphthera rhythmica.
Opodiphthera astrophela is possibly endemic to central
New South Wales.
Opodiphthera engaea north-western;
Syntherata janetta northern;
Opodiphthera loranthi northern and central.
Only two species are recorded from Victoria:
Opodiphthera eucalypti and
Opodiphthera helena.
Only Opodiphthera helena is currently reported from Tasmania. I expect there may be species as yet undiscovered, and ranges may greatly exceed what is stated above.
Species seem to prefer the more tropical and temperate regions of the northeastern coast rather than the drier western half of the country.
Papua New Guinea (northeast of Queensland)
shares Coscinocera hercules and
Syntherata janetta with that state, and
also is home to Coscinocera anteus,
Chrysodesmia flavipicta,
Neodiphthera papuana and
Syntherata naessigi.
I suspect there are other Neodiphthera species there as well.
Visit Irian Jaya and Papua New GuineaStephan Naumann lists the following species from Papua: Updated as per The Emperor Moths (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) of Papua Indonesia, July 4, 2010, by Stefan Naumann; April 15, 2011.
Attacus atlas Linnaeus, 1758
Coscinocera eurystheus Rothschild, 1898 Samia ceramensis (Bouvier, 1927)
anettae Naumann, Lane & Löffler, 2009; questionable status
Opodiphthera sciron (Westwood, 1881)
Neodiphthera albicera (Rothschild & Jordan, 1907)
Pararhodia gyra (Rothschild & Jordan, 1905) Cricula trifenestrata (Helfer, 1837) [introduced species!]
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A single Attacus species is also reported from western Timur: Attacus dohertyi.
As far as I know, there are no Saturnidae species, other than Opodipthera eucalypti (information courtesy of Martin Jagelka), reported from New Zealand which lies to the southeast of Australia.
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