NORTHEAST BRAZIL: Ceara

Many thanks go to all the individuals who have contributed images and/or information and have helped with identifications and corrections to flesh out the active links listed below.

These provisional checklists of the different Saturniidae subfamilies/tribes have been largely created by going through the information provided in the four great Saturniidae works by the late Dr. Claude Lemaire of France: Attacidae (1978), Arsenurinae (1980), Ceratocampinae (1988) and Hemileucinae (2002). Dr. Lemaire's confirmations for Ceara are indicated with his initials (CL).

I have made many of my own interpolations from those works, particularly if a species was described from surrounding Brazilian states or other nearby countries with a similar biome (mostly Thorny Scrub/Caatinga). Those interpolations are followed by "?" to indicate I have no confirmed reports, but I anticipate the species has a range including the state of Ceara.

The Brazilian states in the North Region have not been sampled for Saturniidae nearly as well as those states in the South, Southeast, and Center-West Regions. I suspect there are many omissions in these listings, and there would also be many omissions in the rest of the Northeast Region which is also poorly sampled as of this writing, February 10, 2016.

Many new species have been described since the publications of Dr. Lemaire works and much effort has been made and continues to be made with revisions to the lists. Those species recently described in the Entomo-Satsphingia Journals: 2008-2015, by Brechlin & Meister have an (e) following their names.

This website is designed and maintained by Bill Oehlke who can be reached at oehlkew@islandtelecom.com. If you have additions, corrections, data, images, etc., please send to Bill Oehlke.

Although most of Ceara is described as caatinga, there are some isolated/discontinuous areas known as "Caatinga moist-forest enclaves" where the primary biome is "Atlantic Forest", typical of a relativly narrow strip of forest that runs along the Atlantic Coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte to Rio Grande do Sul.

Wikipedia: "The Caatinga moist forests enclaves cover an area of 4,800 km2 (1,900 sq mi) in the state of Ceará, in northeastern Brazil. The enclaves are found mostly on four major regional plateaus, the Chapada do Araripe, Serra de Ibiapaba, Serra de Baturité, and Serra da Borborema. The enclaves are found on windward slopes and plateaus between 600 and 800 m (2,000 and 2,600 ft) elevation." These forest islands are surrounded by the dry caatinga/savanna xeric shrubland and thorn forest ecoregion which is most of Ceara.

Chapada do Araripe, southern Ceara, Brazil,
courtesy of Wikipedia link.

Serra da Ibiapaba and Bicadolpu, northwestern Ceara, Brazil,
courtesy of Anna caselli.

Wikipedia: "The main vegetation type is semi-deciduous forests with four strata of vegetation and emergent trees taller than 30 m (98 ft). The forest is generally similar in composition to the primary Atlantic Forests further east, but includes species from the Caatinga, Cerrado, and Amazon Rainforest as well.

"The emergent and canopy layers are made up mostly of tree species of the families Fabaceae (Peltophorum dubium), Meliaceae (Cedrela fissilis) and Apocynaceae (Aspidosperma parvifolium).

"Fauna associated with this habitat shows a strong connection with both the Amazon Rainforest and the Atlantic Forest, and, to a lesser degree, the Caatinga."

Many thanks to Sylvia Barroso who has provided several images from Tiangua in northwestern Ceara.

Rothschildia erycina/belus?? male. Tiangua, Ceara, Brazil,
July 14, 2016, courtesy of Sylvia Barroso.

The image directly above from Ceara shows much more red than other specimens on the erycina page. It may therefore be Rothschildia belus known more from southeastern Brazil. The two species are almost identical in appearance as adult moths, but there is perhaps more of a difference in larvae. It is also possible that the specimen from Ceara is an undescribed species or subspecies of either belus or erycina. I am also going to post it in the belus page. (December 10, 2016)

In November of 2017 Sylvia sent me images of at least three species not previously recorded from Ceara: Dysdaemonia concisa, Dirphia panamensis panamensis and Automeris granulosa. She also sent the Automeris or Pseudautomeris image directly below.

The following moth is possibly Automeris amoena amoena, but I am not at all sure.

Automeris amoena amoena, ??questionable??, Tiangua, Ceara, Brazil,
November 26, 2017, courtesy of Sylvia Barroso, very tentative id by Bill oehlke.

Arsenurinae Dysdae. concisa SB Saturniinae Rothschildia belus ?SB Roths. erycina ?SB Roths. h. hesperus SM Rothschildia prionia SB

Ceratocampinae Citheronia hamifera SB Eacles imp. cacicus SB Neorcar. bispinosa SB Othorene cearaiana e Psilopygida walkeri SB

Hemileucinae Aut. am amoena ? Automeris elcearaiana e Aut. granulosa SB Automeris hamata ? Automeris lenarti ? Dirphia nora? Dirphia tarquinia ? Dir. p. panamensis SB Dirphiopsis peggy e

Hemileucinae Eubergia argyrea CL Gamelia anableps CL Gamelia catharina CL Hylesia ebalus ? Hylesia subcottica ? Hyperchiria incisoides e Ken. novaholanden. rh Periphoba pessoai CM

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I have recently received several images from Sylvia Barrosa of Tiangua, in northwestern Ceara, cerrado country. I may be that there are many more Saturniidae species present than indicated above. It is hard to know if the greater affiliation will be with the more western Guiano-Amazonian species or with the species from eastern Brazil.

I have tentatively identified the Eacles imperialis subspecies below as cacicus as opposed to the eastern Brazilian subspecies magnifica, largely due to the extensive lilac grey in the post median area. However, the forewings do not seem as falcate as some of the specimens of cacicus from French Guiana. It may be that the cerrado/savanna/caatinga biome of northern Ceara has given rise to some undescribed subspecies or even unnamed species.

Eacles imperialis cacicus male, Tiangua, Ceara, Brazil,
July 26, 2016, courtesy of Sylvia Barroso, tentative id by Bill Oehlke.

Eacles imperialis cacicus male, Tiangua, Ceara, Brazil,
July 14, 2016, courtesy of Sylvia Barroso, tentative id by Bill Oehlke.

Eacles imperialis cacicus female, Tiangua, Ceara, Brazil,
January 28, 2017, courtesy of Sylvia Barroso, tentative id by Bill Oehlke.

I feel the following Automeris male is either undescribed, lenarti or hamata. I think lenarti may replace hamata in eastern French Guiana but I do not know the eastern extent of its range. I also think the forewing apices of the moth from Tiangua are wider and more rounded than in typical hamata.

Automeris lenarti/hamata male, Tiangua, Ceara, Brazil,
January 28, 2017, courtesy of Sylvia Barroso, tentative id by Bill Oehlke.

The following Dirphia species certainly belongs to the avia group. Perhaps the recently described Dirphia nora has a wider range into and across northern South America than is generally known. Those may be eggs of this female to the left of the forewing median triangle.

Dirphia species male, Tiangua, Ceara, Brazil,
June 13, 2007, courtesy of Sylvia Barroso, tentative id by Bill Oehlke.

The thoracic markings of the following Citheronia species leads me to believe it is most likely Citheronia hamifera.

Citheronia hamifera male, Tiangua, Ceara, Brazil,
January 19, 2017, courtesy of Sylvia Barroso, tentative id by Bill Oehlke.

Rothschildia prionia seems to be a caatinga/savanna species, found in northestern Brazil, indicating again that Ceara, at least the northern half, may be predominantly a home to its own set of caatinga/savanna fauna. Other Brazilian states with same biome would include parts of Piaui, Rio Grande do Norte, Alagoas, Sergipe, Bahia, Paraiba, Pernambuco.

Rothschildia prionia male, Tiangua, Ceara, Brazil,
July 19, 2016, courtesy of Sylvia Barroso, id by Bill Oehlke.

Below are two Hylesia species from Ceara. I am not at all positive on the ids of either of them.

Hylesia ebalus?? male, Macico de Baturite, Ceara, Brazil,
June 27, 2016, courtesy of Meremii Souza, tentative id by Bill Oehlke.

Hylesia subcottica?? male, Tiangua, Ceara, Brazil,
January 16, 2017, courtesy of Sylvia Barroso, very tentative id by Bill Oehlke.

I am hoping that someday before I die there will be a thorough sampling of the Saturniidae of Ceara and that DNA barcoding will provide a much more precise species list.

I am pretty sure that the image below is of a female Gamelia anableps.

Gamelia anableps female, Macico de Bauterite, Ceara, Brazil,
June 24, 2016, courtesy of Merremii Souza, tentative id by Bill Oehlke.

Psilopygida walkeri male, Tiangua, Ceara, Brazil,
January 30, 2017, courtesy of Sylvia Barroso.

Many thanks to Sousa Mrc for the following image which I have tentatively identified as Rothschildia hesperus.

Rothschildia hesperus hesperus male, Horizonte, Ceara, Brazil,
March 9, 2017, courtesy of Sousa Mrc, id and digital repair by Bill Oehlke.

Visit Sphingidae of Brazil: Hawkmoths and their Larvae.

Below are links to some Sphingidae images from Ceara.

Enyo lugubris, Macico do Baturite, Aratuba, Ceara, May 12, 2016, courtesy of Meremii Souza.

Merremii Souza also confirms Protambulyx strigilis, Enyo lugubris, Eumorpha fasciatus in Ceara.