Arsenura mossi
Ar-sen-OOR-uhMMOSS-eye
Jordan, 1922

Arsenura mossi male, Hollin, Napo, Ecuador,
October 28, 2008, 1000m, courtesy of Horst Kach.

TAXONOMY: Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802 Family: Saturniidae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834 Subfamily: Arsenurinae, Jordan 1922 Tribe: Arsenurini, Jordan, 1922 Genus: Arsenura Duncan, 1841 Species: mossi, Jordan, 1927

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DISTRIBUTION:

Arsenura mossi (wingspan: males: 155mm; females: 163mm) flies in wetlands in neotropical South America, preferring elevations between 400-900 meters above sea level.

Records exist for
Guyana: Kartabo;
Brazil: Para and Amazonas (Northern Mato Grosso, Brian Fletcher); and the eastern side of the Andes in
Ecuador: Sucumbios, Napo (uncommon to rare (LTR)), Morona-Santiago, Pastaza and maybe Orellana (LTR?) and Zamora Chinchipe (LTR?); and in
Peru: Loreto, Pasco, Junin (VI) and Cusco; at elevations up to 900m.

Arsenura mossi male, Coviriali, Junin, Peru,
December 21, 2007, 662m, courtesy of Vladimir Izersky.

Arsenura mossi male, Christalino Lodge, Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso, Brazil,
September 23, 2014, courtesy of Brian Fletcher, tentative id by Bill Oehlke.

It is quite difficult to distinguish this species from Arsenura armida, but mossi is larger and the forewing median band is straight, instead of being bent outward near the inner margin (sometimes slightly bent).

I have tentatively identified the image from Mato Grosso as mossi, mostly because of the presence of a third lobe on the pm line.

Lemaire does not mention this (perhaps they are not valid characters), but all his images of armida show a wider, dark forewing band than present in his images of mossi. I also notice definite lighter areas between the cell mark and the antemedial line, and there seems to be a consistently lighter patch along the forewing inner margin, abutting the pm line.

The dark markings, capping the projections into the male hindwing subterminal area, seem to be more discontinuous in mossi than in other species. This same discontinuous feature is not evident in the female, but the caps of the projections are well extended in black.

Racheli and Racheli indicate A. mossi always shows a light brown color. They expect it will be recorded at low elevations in Orellana and Zamora Chinchipe.

Mossi is also supposed to be characterized by third and fourth lobes on forewing cells M2 and M1 respectively and an enlarged white triangle near the anal angle. The specimens below, courtesy of Charles DeRoller, are in line with characters of mossi.

Arsenura mossi male (verso), Hollin, Napo, Ecuador,
October 28, 2008, 1000m, courtesy of Horst Kach.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

There are probably at least two generations of Arsenura mossi on the wing each year, the first in late October-November-December-January and a probable second flight in July. Moths prefer a light rain and are on the wing from 11:30 pm-2:30 am.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Males use their antennae to seek out females which scent at night.

EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:

Mature larve descend tree trunks to excavate subterranean chambers for pupation.

Larval Food Plants

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.

The pronunciation of scientific names is troublesome for many. The "suggestion" at the top of the page is merely a suggestion. It is based on commonly accepted English pronunciation of Greek names and/or some fairly well accepted "rules" for latinized scientific names.

The suggested pronunciations, on this page and on other pages, are primarily put forward to assist those who hear with internal ears as they read.

There are many collectors from different countries whose intonations and accents would be different.

Some of the early describers/namers chose genus and species names indicating some character of the insect, but more often, they simply chose names from Greek or Roman mythology or history.

Those species names which end in "ensis" indicate a specimen locale, and those which end in "i", pronounced "eye", honour a contempory friend/collector/etc.

I do not know the source of the genus name "Arsenura" chosen by Duncan in 1841.

The species name "mossi" is honourific for A. M. Moss.

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