CENTRAL BRAZIL: FEDERAL DISTRICT

The Federal District (Portuguese: Distrito Federal) is located in the Central Plateau of the Brazilian Highlands. It is completely surrounded by the state of Goias, with its southeastern most tip butting Minas Gerais. The Federal District appears to be almost completely flat cerrado/savannah, practically devoid of forests. The elevation is mostly between 1000-1100m. The habitat and elevation restrict the Saturniidae diverstiy in the Federal District.

Biomes of Brazil

Titaea orsinome grey female, Reserva Vale da Solidão,
14o22’S 56o07’W, Mato Grosso, Brazil, courtesy of Eurides Furtado copyright.

The region has a tropical savanna climate, with a rainy season from October to April, and a dry season from May to September. During the dry season (winter), the humidity can reach critical levels, mainly in the peak hours of the hottest days. The artificial Paranoá Lake, with almost 40 km2 (15 sq mi) and 500 million cubic metres (410,000 acre·ft) of water, was built to minimize the severe dry climatic conditions of winter in the Cerrado vegetation.

Many thanks also go to all, especially Eurides Furtado and Carlos Mielke, who have contributed images and information and have helped with identifications and corrections to flesh out the active links listed below.

These provisional checklists of the different Saturniidae subfamilies 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).

I have made many of my own interpolations from those works. Those interpolations are followed by "?" to indicate I have no confirmed reports, but I anticipate the species has a range including the Federal District. Those species followed by ?? are less likely possibilities.

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.

Many thanks to Eurides Furtado for identifying a rarely seen species from Federal District, Brazil. For the first time a female of Automeris lauroia is depicted on WLSS. I do not know if the female was prevously known to science. It is neither depicted nor described in Lemaire's Hemileucinae, 2002. The forewing of both the male and female is very similar, almost identical, and very distinct from all other known Automeris species.

Automeris lauroia female, Sobradinho, Federal District, Brazil,
December 21, 2017, courtesy of Flavia Lacerda.

This website is designed and maintained by Bill Oehlke. If you have additions, corrections, data, images, etc., please send to Bill Oehlke.

Arsenurinae Almeidaia aidae ? Ars. angulatus ? Ars. a. armida CL Ars. meander ? Ars. pandora CL Ars. orbignyana ? Cop. s. montei ? Copiop. virgo ?? Par. meridionalis CL Parad. samba ?? Parad. thelia CL Titaea orsinome CL Saturniinae R. s. speculif. ?? R. e. erycina ?? R. h. hesperus ??

Ceratocampinae Adelon. acuta CL Ad. boisduvalii ?? Ad. catharina ? Ad. subangulata ? Ceropoda tibialis ?? Cicia citrina ? Cicia pamala ?? Cith. laocoon CL Cith. phoronea ? Cith. vogleri ?? C. a. armata CL

Ceratocampinae Eacles barnesi ?? E. i. cacicus ?? E. m. fulvaster ?? E. penelope ?? Mega. pulchra CL Neor. bispinosa SN Oit. convergens CL Othorene hodeva ?? Oth. cearaiana ? Psilop. walkeri CL Sco. nebulosa ?? Syss. molina ?

Hemileucinae Aut. a. amoena ?? Aut. bilinea ? Aut. goaisensis CL A. granulosa CL Aut-eris hamata ? Aut-eris janus ?? Automeris lauroia CL Aut. rectilinea ? Aut. umb. lampei WO?B C. apunctata ?? Dirphia avia ?? Dir. moderata ? Dir. p. panamensis ?? Dir. rubricauda CL Eubergia caisa CL Gamelia pygmaea CL

Hemileucinae Hylesia ebalus ? Hylesia obtusa ? Hyl. schuessleri CL Hyperch. orodina CL Ken. albilinea CL Ken. dukinfieldi ? Ken. lineosa CL Ken. spitzi CL Mol. simillima ?? Pe. circumstans ?? Pe. tangerini CL Ps. erubescens ? Ps. luteata CL Pseudodir. agis CL T. subfumata ?

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