EUBERGIA OF THE WORLD

EUBERGIA BOUVIER, 1929

The genus Eubergia belongs to the Subfamily Hemileucinae in the Saturniidae Family. Larvae have urticating spines.

This page with its comparison plate and commentary is an effort on my part to make the identification of Eubergia species a bit easier for myself or anyone else who does not have the equipment or skills to do DNA barcoding analysis.

Prior to the advent of extensive DNA barcoding in 2008 at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, Lemaire (Hemileucinae 2002) commented on the following names:

1) Eubergia caisa HT female; Buenos Aires, Argentina
Lemaire, or others before him, placed the following names in synonymy with caisa: boetifica LT from Paraguay; bedoci HT from Brazil; boetifica f. rufa HT from Brazil: Mato Grosso.

2) Eubergia radians HT male from Argentina: Chaco de Santiago del Estero, with further reports from Bolivia: Chuquisaca; Argentina: Tucuman.

3) Eubergia argyrea HT female Brazil: Sergipe, with additional records from Pernambuco; Bahia.

Based on barcoding results, Brechlin & Meister, 2011, put forward four new names:

4) Eubergia altoparanensis HT male, Paraguay: Alto Parana

5) Eubergia chuquisaciana HT male, Bolivia: Chuquisaca

6) Eubergia santacruziana HT male, Bolivia: Santa Cruz; Brazil: Mato Grosso

7) Eubergia sinjaevorum HT male, Bolivia: Santa Cruz

Brechlin & Meister also suggested that the new Eubergia santacruziana might be conspecific with E. boetifica f. rufa HT from Brazil: Mato Grosso.

In 2015 Brechlin & Meister described an additional four species:

8) Eubergia conceptiona HT male: Paraguay: Concepcion: Estancia Garay Cue

9) Eubergia drechseli HT male: Paraguay: Concepcion: Estancia Garay Cue

10) Eubergia paraguari HT female: Paraguay: Paraguari

11) Eubergia peggyae HT male: Brazil: Bahia; Brazil: Parana

I have added Eubergia boetifica to the list, based on an image from Frank Meister posted to BOLD. To me the moth seems distinct from the other species.

12) Eubergia boetifica

The following table follows no prescribed order. I have grouped the moths into two groups:
1) very distinct species
2) very similar caisa-like species

Very Distinct Eubergia species. Eubergia argyrea male; 33-38mm Brazil: Pernambuco, Sergipe, Ceara, Bahia Brazil: Pernambuco, Sergipe, Ceara, Bahia fw: suboval black cell mark with internal yellow ring; fw am and pm lines subparallel; hw cell spot: large, red, ringed in black Eubergia boetifica male; 40mm No image of female available (44-48mm). Thus far only reported from northern Paraguay: Alto Paraguay, Presidente Hayes and Boqueron. fw: small black subcircular cell mark fw am and pm lines very wide and parallel hw cell mark: small, black, subcircular Eu. altoparanensis male; 43-46mm No image of female available. Thus far only reported from north eastern Paraguay: Alto Parana brilliant white fringes, thoracic hairs and hw inner margin hairs. hw basal median area brilliant white without darker suffusions. fw pm line slightly concave. fw am line subparallel to costa. Eu. sinjaevorum male 34-40mm Bolivia: Santa Cruz; 1100-1830m Female unknown as of November 2015. This species might be difficult to distinguish from radians which tends to be larger and perhaps does not have quite so dark hindwing ground colour. Bolivia: Santa Cruz; 1100-1830m Note slightly falcate, more pointed forewing apex of male. Elongate fw cell with yellow ring. Hw cell small, black with yellow grey pupil. Greyish fringes. dark grey hw ground color Eubergia radians male; 38-45mm Argentina: Tucuman; Jujuy (NV) Bolivia: Chuquisaca female unknown as of November 2015. Possibly the record from Bolivia at 2200m is for sinjaevorum which seems to be a higher elevation species?? Specimens from western Argentina should be radians with yellow rings encircled by black, all encirling a small black pupil, more vividly depicted in specimens from Chuquisaca, Bolivia. 200-500m; Arg.; 2200m Bol. Very Similar Eubergia, strongly resembling Eubergia caisa I (Bill Oehlke) am not sure if the male and female E. caisa from Goias, Brazil, in Lemaire's Hemileucinae 2002, are true caisa. The HT for caisa is from Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2011 and 2015 Brechlin & Meister put forward eight new names of species very similar to caisa after DNA barcoding analysis. With the exception of altoparanensis and possibly paraguari males, which may have an almost pure whitehind wing ground colour without greyish suffusions and sinjaevorum males which have a heavy grey suffion throughout the entire hindwing, the other five species: drechseli, conceptiona, chucquisaciana, santacruziana, peggyae, all show a white hindwing with grey suffusions in the upper reaches of the basal median area. I doubt they can be determined by visual inspection. Location and elevation would likely be the best guides without DNA barcoding analysis. E. drechseli or caisa male; E. caisa female Moths to left are both from Brazil and may or may not be true caisa. They are good matches for Lemaire's depiction of caisa, but Lemaire's images are both from Goais, Brazil, and may not be true caisa. E. drechseli or caisa male; Paraguay: Concepcion; ??Brazil: Mato Grosso do Sul?? female undescribed as of November 2015 Almost identical to conceptiona, but white forewing am and pm lines are thicker and pm line is noticeably concave. White submarginal bands on all wings are also quite thick. E. conceptiona HT male: 44mm Paraguay: Concepcion; San Pedro tentative id by Bill Oehlke female undescribed as of November 2015; San Pedro tentative id by Bill Oehlke Note slight bending of fw pm line, outward near costa/apex, inward near inner margin. Fringes: white. Light suffusion of grey in m hw median area outward, upward from cell. The images of the male and female E. conceptiona directly above are determinations by Bill Oehlke of moths originally identifed as E. caisa They are from San Pedro, just below Concepcion, Paraguay, which is the holotype source of both E. conceptiona and E. drechseli. I have identified both as E. conceptiona even though the female conceptiona has not been described as of this posting, based on the forewing pm line of both the male and female being slightly 's-shaped'. The male E. drechseli from the same general area has a pm line that is more noticeably concave, and I expect that character would also appear in the female of drechseli which is also undescribed as of November 2015. Eubergia paraguari male?? unknown as of November 2015 tentative id by Bill Oehlke Paraguari, Paraguay E. paraguari female; 49mm possibly altoparanensis female?? Paraguari, Paraguay Note inward incursion of white from the forewing marginal area toward the body along the otherwise orange wing veins. Thoracic hairs greyer than in other similar species from Paraguay. The male Eubergia paraguari is as yet (2015) undescribed, but the image of the male from Paraguari, courtesy of Franz Ziereis, also shows this incursion of white from the forewing marginal area toward the body along the otherwise orange wing veins, and it lacks the hindwing greyish suffusions into the median area of other caisa-like species, except altoparanensis. E. chuquisaciana HT male; 40mm Bolivia: Chuquisaca; 1600-1650m female undescribed as of November 2015 Sorry, but I have no images (neither males nor females) of chuquisaciana, santacruziana or peggyae available for public display. All three are extremely similar, however, to Eubergia caisa chuquisaciana pml: 's-shaped' santacruziana pml: very straight peggyae pml: noticeably concave Fw pm line slightly s-shaped E. santacruziana HT male; 41-45mm Bolivia: Santa Cruz; 550m; ?? Brazil: Mato Grosso?? female undescribed as of November 2015 santacruziana slightly larger than chuquisaciana; flies at lower elevation; hindwng cell marking slightly smaller; otherwise difficult to distinguish Fw pm line very straight E. peggyae HT male; 43mm Brazil: Bahia; Parana; 500-700m E. peggyae AT female; 44-48mm probably Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo I suspect the seven species in the caisa-like group cannot be determined positively without barcoding analysis. Fw pm line noticeably concave in males

I have created the following map and summary to provide some insights.

Quite possibly some of these species may be placed in synonymy in the future. DNA barcoding analysis may be required to get conclusive determinations for those species which are valid. The following map of the known Eubergia genus holotypes might provide some useful clues.

Thus far, November 2015, two Eubergia species are reported in Argentina. 1) Eubergia caisa C, has its holotype from Buenos Aires, Argentina, but has not, to my knowledge, been reported in other Argentina provinces. Nor has it been reported in Uruguay. I feel a substantial amount of collecting and reporting has been done in Misiones, Argentina, and in Uruguay in recent years, so caisa's seeming absence in those two areas leads me to believe that E. caisa may have a much more limited range than previously reported. Reports from Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil may be of very similar but distinct look-a-like species.

2 Eubergia radians R (ringed cell marks and dark hindwings) is quite distinct from caisa, and radians has its holotype from Tucuman. Nigel Venters has sent me an image from Jujuy. Lemaire reports it has also been taken at high elevation (2200m) in Tomina, western Chuquisaca, Bolivia. In 2011 Brechlin & Meister described Eubergia sinjaevorum S from central western, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, calling into question whether the high altitude specimen from Chuquisaca is radians or sinjaevorum. The two species are very similar.

Eubergia caisa C? has been reported, perhaps erroneously, in Mataral, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, at 2100m. I think there is a good chance the report from Mataral is of 1) Eubergia chuquisaciana Ch which has its holotype from Acero, Chuquisaca, Bolivia at elevations around 1650m. It might also have been 2) Eubergia santacruziana Sc which has its holotype from Chiquitos, Santa Cruz at elevations near 500m.

3) Eubergia sinjaevorum S has its holotype from Pampa Grande, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, at elevations near 1360m.

Possibly 4) radians R and 5) caisa C? are also in Bolivia, but I think they are more likely replaced by the newer names. There is also the possibility that the moth I am depicting as 6) Eubergia boetifica B flies in southeastern Bolivia near the border with Paraguay.

Paraguay has a host of the new names: 1) Eubergia conceptiona C and 2) Eubergia drechseli D, both from Concepcion, and I think San Pedro; 3) Eubergia paraguari P from Paraguari, and 4) Eubergia altoparanensis A from Alto Parana.

Eubergia boetifica?? B flies in northen Paraguay.

I feel the first four names are probably replacements for 6) Eubergia caisa which may or may not fly in Paraguay. I think specimens referenced by Lemaire for Paraguari are most likely E. paraguari and those specimens listed by Ulf Drechsel are probably better listed as the newer species, but I could be wrong!

In Brazil we have the very distinct 1) Eubergia argyrea * in the Northeast, 2) Eubergia peggyae Peg from Bahia to Parana, and the 3) caisa look-a-likes C? from Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul; Goias and Minas Gerais.

Brechlin & Meister have suggested that the specimen listed as boetifica rufa in D' Abrera, 1995 from Mato Grosso is most likely 4?) E. santacruziana Sc.

The caisa-like species in Brazil might be caisa, might be peggyae or might be any of the Bolivian or Paraguayan species whose ranges spill over into Brazil. I would not be surprised if some of these new species are placed in synonymity either with each other or with caisa in the future.

Alexandre Specht et. al. indicate caisa from eastern Rio Grande Do Sul, and that may be caisa or it could be a southern extension of the E. peggyae range.

I do not think anyone has been successful rearing any of the Eubergia species to date. Eggs are apparently deposited enmasse, glued to each other and two host twigs and stems and leaves and covered with abdominal hairs from the female. There may be a very long egg incubaton period as experienced with some of the Hylesia and Hemileuca species.

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Description of caisa from Lemaire 2002 which may be in error: E. caisa (wingspan: males: 32-42mm; females: 44-48mm) males are generally small, and the hindwings are white but not so brilliant as in altoparanensis. E. caisa males have grey suffusions into the median area above the dark, prominent hindwing cell, and the darker charcoal bars paralleling the reddish wing veins are more elongate in E. caisa. The forewing pm line is very straight with a slight inturn at its juncture with the inner margin. Females have extensive grey in the hindwing basal median areas. The forewing outer margin in both sexes is convex.