DISTRIBUTION:

Copaxa rufinans (wingspan: males: 92-116mm; females: 100-118mm // forewing length: males: 53-65; females: ) flies in
Mexico: San Luis Potosi, Puebla, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Hidalgo (97mm, 1450m, KP), Tabasco, Yucatan, Chiapas, Quintana Roo;
Belize: Cayo, Stann Creek and Toledo;
Guatemala: Zacapa, (Izabal (JM));
Honduras: Atlantida and Olancho (RL), probably Cortes (Eduardo Marabuto), Santa Barbara and Yoro (RC), Francisco Morazan and El Paraiso (WO);
Nicaragua: Jinotega, Matagalpa, Granada, Zelaya, Rio San Juan;
Costa Rica: Turrialba in Cartago, San Jose, Puntarenas (CL), Alajuela, Guanacaste, Heredia, at elevations from 100m to 1660m, more common above 600m;
Panama: Chiriqui (1900m, TS);
Colombia: Valle del Cauca and Nariono and probably Cauca; and
Ecuador: Pichincha, Canar LTR, El Oro LTR, and possibly Carchi and Imbabura; at elevations from 600-1540 meters above sea level. I suspect it flies throughout Central America and along the Pacific Coast of Colombia and Ecuador.

Visit Copaxa rufinans male, Oaxaca, Mexico, July 2006, courtesy of Kelly Price.

Visit Copaxa rufinans male, Kiri Lodge, Orosi, Cartago, Costa Rica, 4000 feet, May 6, 2008, courtesy/copyright Leroy Simon.

This species is highly variable regarding colouration; some specimens are very dark with various shadings while others are light an more uniform in colour. The hyaline spots may be large or small. The lilac border, however is quite evident and consistent. The cell is usually coppery in males.

Copaxa rufinans, Honduras, July, courtesy of Eduardo Marabuto.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

In Costa Rica Copaxa rufinans moths are taken every month of the year. This species broods continuously. Peak flights in Honduras seem to be February-March, July, and September-October

Terry Stoddard reports an August flight in Panama.

Copaxa rufinans larvae feed upon avocado (Persea americana).

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Males use highly developed antennae to locate females shortly after dark by tracking the airbourne pheromone plume.

Copaxa rufinans male 105mm, Tapanti, Cartago, Costa Rica, 1160m,
courtesy of Kelly Price, id confirmed by Kirby Wolfe.

Copaxa rufinans male, Mexico, courtesy of Eric van Schayck,
id and digital repair by Bill Oehlke

Copaxa rufinans male, wingspan: 98mm; forewing length: 56mm, Mount Totumas Lodge,
Amistad National Park, Chiriqui, Panama, August 12, 2012, 1900m,
courtesy of Terry Stoddard, id by Bill Oehlke.

Copaxa rufinans female, wingspan: 116mm; forewing length: 65mm, Mount Totumas Lodge,
Amistad National Park, Chiriqui, Panama, August 12, 2012, 1900m,
courtesy of Terry Stoddard, id by Bill Oehlke.

Visit Copaxa rufinans male, aberration: no forewing ocelli, courtesy of Dave Rolfe.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Eggs are deposited in neat rows on host foliage, and early instar larvae are gregarious and feed at leaf edges, skeletonizing foliage.

Copaxa rufinans, second instars, Costa Rica, courtesy of Dan Janzen.

Larvae bulk up considerably in late instars and there is much variation in colouring in different populations. Dan Janzen image to the right.

This image courtesy of Leroy Simon shows much more red on lateral line and less blue on scoli. Larvae spin a porous cocoon which is longitudinally affixed to twigs and stems.

Bernhard Wenczel writes, "Last August I was in Oaxaca/Mexico and lucky enough to get a female of Copaxa rufinans.

"The larvae are doing very well on Avocado (on which they grow much faster than on the other plants), Sweetgum, Beech (Fagus sylvatica) and Willow (Salix caprea and Salix helvetica). "I checked your site, and you show a bunch of larva of rufinans. I don’t believe it’s rufinans because they are greenish from the beginning. But they look very like young Copaxa rufa larvae which I’ve brought back as well and I’m able to compare with the image. They become dark when they are grown up and this would match with the color of the caterpillars on your picture."

Bernhard may be correct, but I recently visited Dan Janzen's site for Costa Rica. Dan is a very through researcher, and he does not list Copaxa rufa for Costa Rica. He does show additional images of Copaxa rufinans larvae, and I have updated this page with some of those images. Dan still shows green early instar Copaxa rufinans so I think, either the larvae of this species are quite variable, or perhaps what Bernhard and Dan are referring to as Copaxa rufinans are two different species, very similar in appearance, which might only be distinguishable by larval differences and/or DNA analysis.

In 2010 Brechlin and Meister described approximately fifteen new Copaxa species. I do not have any information or images (yet, September 2010) relating to these newly described species. It may well be that some of them can only be discerned by DNA analaysis unless exact location is known or they are ex pupae where the larvae have been examined. One of the new species is named Copaxa pararufinans. Maybe images are already on the WLSS and we just don't know it yet.

The mature larvae from both Bernhard Wenczel (Oaxaca, Mexico) and from Leroy Simon (source location unknown) do look different from the ones from Dan Janzen in Costa Rica.

Visit Copaxa rufinans eggs and fifth instar larvae, courtesy of Bernhard Wenczel.

Visit Copaxa rufinans eggs, first instar and fifth instar larvae, courtesy of Dan Janzen.

It is very good to know that Avocado is a favourite foodplant. It is probably the native host.

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.

Fagus sylvatica Liquidambar styraciflua ....... Ocatea Persea americana Prunus Quercus Rhus laurina Salix caprea Salix helvetica Stizolobium pruriens

Beech Sweetgum Ocatea Avocado favourite Cherry Oak Laurel sumac Goat Willow, Pussy Willow, Great Sallow Swiss Willow velvet bean, cowitch

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Robert Lehman writes, May 16, 2007, "Here is the data for Copaxa rufinans from Honduras. I have included four pictures.

1. 3 specimens 17 km west of La Ceiba 100 m males dept Atlantida
3/31/95 102 mm; 3/31/95 102 mm; 2/19/01 92 mm

2. 8 km west and 5 km south of La Ceiba 150 m 104 mm male

3. 10 specimens from La Muralla National Park cloud forest 1420 m dept Olancho
7/26/95 116 mm male
7/26/95 112 mm male
7/27/95 115 mm male
9/16/95 114 mm male
9/16/95 114 mm male
10/14/95 118 mm female
2/16/96 105 mm male
2/17/96 112 mm male
2/17/96 100 mm female
10/14/96 111 mm male"