TAXONOMY:Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802
Family: Saturniidae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834
Subfamily: Arsenurinae, Jordan, 1922
Tribe: Arsenurini, Jordan, 1922
Genus: Dysdaemonia, Hubner, [1819]
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DISTRIBUTION:
Dysdaemonia australoboreas
(approximate wingspan: males: 141mm; females: 140mm // forewing length: males: 69-73mm; females: 67-72 mm) flies in
Peru: Amazonas: Montenegro (900m) and Bagua Chica (600 m); Madre de Dios: Rio Carbon: Camicana Chico (1200m); Junin: Satipo:
Calabaza (2000 m) and Rio Perene (Shima) (350m) and Satipo: San Martin de Pangoa (1400-1600m); Ucayali: Atalaya (350m, VI) and
northern Bolivia: N. Yungas (1000-1800m).
John Kamps sends the following image, indicated as a paratype from Peru.
Dysdaemonia australoboreas, Bagua Chica, Montenegro, Dept. Amazonas, Peru,
600m, Nov/2006 leg. R. Marx, courtesy of John Kamps.
Dysdaemonia boreas male, Atalaya, Ucayali Peru,
November 1, 2008, 350m, courtesy of Vladimir Izersky.
Based on the convex am line and location of the Vladimir Izersky image, I feel that specimen is more likely the recently (March 2009)
described species Dysdaemonia australoboreas.
FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:
Specimens have been taken in January-February, May-June-July-August and November-December.Larvae probably feed upon Red silk cotton tree (Bombax ceiba),
White silk cotton tree (Ceiba pentandra) and Chorisia
Dysdaemonia australoboreas female, 140mm,
courtesy of Thibaud Decaens.
Dysdaemonia australoboreas male, verso,
courtesy of Eric Van Schayck.
ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:
Males use their antennae to locate females at night by tracking her airbourne pheromone plume.
EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:
It is hoped that this alphabetical listing followed
by the common name of the suspected foodplant will prove useful. The list is not exhaustive. Experimenting with closely related foodplants is worthwhile.
Bombax ceiba
Ceiba pentandra.....
Chorisia
| Red silk cotton tree
White silk cotton tree
Chorisia
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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 "Dysdaemonia" chosen by Hubner in 1819. It could be a combination meaning 'bad spirit'.
The species name "australoboreas" is chosen for the similarity to D. boreas.
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