Adeloneivaia fallax
(Boisduval, 1872) Othorene

Adeloneivaia fallax male, Pirai, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
March 12, 2017, courtesy of Diogo Luiz, id by Bill Oehlke.

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 Citheroniinae Neumoegen & Dyar, 1894 Genus: Adeloneivaia, Travassos, 1940 Species: fallax, (Boisduval, 1872)

DISTRIBUTION:

Adeloneivaia fallax (wingspan: males: 66-76mm; females: 86-96mm // forewing length: malles: 33.3-33.9; females: 44.3mm) flies in
southeastern Brazil: Espirito Santo; Rio de Janeiro: Nova Iguacu; Pirai; Sao Paulo; Parana; Santa Catarina; Rio Grande do Sul; possibly (doubtful) westward into Bolivia and Peru.

Ulf Drechsel reports them in Paraguay: Guaira and Caazapa, and they are probably also present in Alto Parana, Caaguazu and Itapua. Reinhard Foerster reports them from Misiones, Argentina.

Adeloneivaia fallax male, Guaira Department, Paraguay, courtesy of Ulf Drechsel.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Adeloneivaia fallax flies in July-September. In Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, moths are on the wing in January-March, July and September-November, with larvae feeding on Mimosoideae. Larvae feed upon Inga.

Diogo Luiz has sent me images from Rio de Janeiro, suggesting flights in December and March in that Brazilian state.

Adeloneivaia fallax male, Nova Iguacu, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
December 5, 2016, courtesy of Diogo Luiz, id by Bill Oehlke.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Adult Adeloneivaia fallax moths emerge from pupae, and males are slightly smaller than females.

Mating begins shortly after dusk with a calling period from 10:00 pm. to 12:30 am.

A light rainfall or mist seems to stimulate additional flight or eclosions resulting in more moths on the wing, or at least taken at lights.

Adeloneivaia fallax female, 63mm, Boraceia Biological Station, Salesopolis, Sao Paulo, Brazil,
"Immature Stages of Adeloneivaia fallax (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae)"; Florida Entomologist
courtesy of Fabiano F. Albertoni and Marcelo Duarte.

Adeloneivaia fallax female (verso), 63mm, Boraceia Biological Station, Salesopolis, Sao Paulo, Brazil,
"Immature Stages of Adeloneivaia fallax (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae)"; Florida Entomologist
courtesy of Fabiano F. Albertoni and Marcelo Duarte.

Adeloneivaia fallax courtesy of Bernhard Wenczel.

EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:

Night-flying females lay translucent eggs on host plant leaves.

Larvae pupate underground in small chambers.

Care of larvae and pupae should be as for any Neotropical species.

Sixth instar (Suppl. Fig. 15). Length 54 mm (n = 1). Predominantly green with parts almost entirely uniform yellow, including intersegmental membranes; after fixed in boiling water, uniformly beige; thoracic spiracles pale green. Head: length 9 mm, width 7.36 mm (n = 1), and length/width ratio 1.22 mm; oblong and finely punctuated, laterally whitish with a longitudinal and central greenish stripe; occipital region with transverse depression and epicranial notch in a deep groove, especially between vertex and occiput; frons medially depressed; labrum well developed with 5 protuberances; clypeus bifurcated; stemmata region dark brown; mandibles black, strongly sclerotized on apical half, basal half lighter and less sclerotized. Prothorax with well—developed spiracles; 2 pairs of short dorsal scoli, green with yellowish apex, with 1 verruca anterior to spiracle and 1 chalaza below it; a protuberance with 3 chalazae near base of prothoracic legs and a smaller chalaza posteriorly. Meso— and metathorax with vestigial spiracles; a pair of long dorsal scoli, inner scolus between 6.5–8.0 mm, and outer scolus approximately 1 mm shorter, with only 1 small chalaza anterior to spiracles; mesothorax with 2 chalazae near base of legs: anterior chalaza long, posterior chalaza less than half length of the former; metathorax protuberance with 2 chalazae near base of legs; upper area of legs dark brown (fixed material in ethanol). Abdomen with dark—green spiracles, and dorsal scoli of segments A2, A4 and A6 as long as dorsal scoli of meso- and metathorax; dorsal and supraspiracular scoli of these abdominal segments yellow or metallic blue, with 1 white and 1 blue marking between supraspiracular scoli and ventral surface of segments; subspiracular scoli typically small with setae at apices; A1, A3, A5 and A7 with well—developed dorsal scoli; A1 and A2 with 3 pairs of ventral chalazae; A8 with 1 dorsal scolus larger than dorsal scoli of meso— and metathorax; A9 with short scoli, blue or greenish at apices; anal plate with several reduced scoli, orange laterally, green in middle region, and all blue at apex; posterior margins of prolegs on A10 orange and with small tubercles.

The duration of each larval stadium differed markedly between A. schubarti and A. fallax. In the former species, each of the first 5 larval stadia lasted 3 days, about half the time observed for A. fallax. The duration of the final larval feeding period was roughly the same for both species. Other behavioral characteristics of A. fallax resembled some notes on A. schubarti by Furtado (2001).

Pupae were found buried a few millimeters beneath the surface of the ground. Pupation occurred in the soil, without a well-defined pupal chamber. Similar behavior was observed in A. schubarti and Megaceresa pulchra (Bouvier, 1923) (see also Furtado 1999, 2001). In contrast, larvae of Psilopygida (Psigida) walkeri (Grote, 1867) use debris and their own secretions to fashion a pupation chamber (Furtado 2000).

Lemaire (1988) referred to Inga sp. as a larval host plant of A. fallax. In the present study, in addition to Inga sp., we offered the larvae Wisteria cf. sinensis (Sims) DC. (Leguminosae: Papilionoideae), an Asian plant that has been cultivated worldwide, and is popularly known in Brazil as glicínia.

Adeloneivaia fallax larva on Acacia velutina,
Dos de Mayo, Misiones, Argentina, courtesy of Reinhard Foerster.

Adeloneivaia fallax fifth instar on Acacia velutina,
Dos de Mayo, Misiones, Argentina, courtesy of Reinhard Foerster.

Adeloneivaia fallax mature fifth instar on Acacia velutina,
Dos de Mayo, Misiones, Argentina, courtesy of Reinhard Foerster.

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.

Acacia velutina (RF) ....... Inga

Calumbi/Garapi/Unha-de-gato/Vamos-junto Inga

Return to Main Saturniidae Index

Return to Adeloneivaia Index

The inclusion of Adeloneivaia fallax in Argentina is based on this image, courtesy of Reinhard Foerster.

Adeloneivaia fallax adult, Dos de Mayo, Misiones, Argentina, courtesy of Reinhard Foerster.

Although the moth is damaged, the narrow cell marking, contrasting vein, slightly concave am line, proximity of am and pm lines to each other along the inner margin, and light red scaling on hindwings indicate A. fallax.

Adeloneivaia fallax moth (male) courtesy of Vladimir Izersky,
digital reconstruction by Bill Oehlke.

The above image, reportedly from Peru, seems to match Lemaire's description: sharp forewing apex; contrasting venation; curved antemedian line, tending to converge with postmedian line near the inner margin; narrow discal spot and red area along inner margin of hindwings. However, Vladimir indicates that not all of his images are of moths from Peru.

Adeloneivaia fallax male, 71mm, Boraceia Biological Station, Salesopolis, Sao Paulo, Brazil,
"Immature Stages of Adeloneivaia fallax (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae)"; Florida Entomologist
courtesy of Fabiano F. Albertoni and Marcelo Duarte.

Adeloneivaia fallax male (verso), 71mm, Boraceia Biological Station, Salesopolis, Sao Paulo, Brazil,
"Immature Stages of Adeloneivaia fallax (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae)"; Florida Entomologist
courtesy of Fabiano F. Albertoni and Marcelo Duarte.