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 boreas
(wingspan: males: 92-136-140mm (NS); females: 106-140mm) (forewing length: males: 62-72) flies from
Mexico:
Sinaloa, Jalisco (DCO), Morelos, Guerrero, Veracruz, Yucatan, Quintana Roo and
Chiapas; and throughout Central America:
Honduras: Atlantida (RL), Cortes (CL):
San Pedro Sula, and Francisco Morazán (RC);
west coastal Nicaragua: Chinandega, Leon, Managua,
Carazo, Granada, Rio San Juan, probably Rivas;
Costa Rica San Jose (CL), Alajuela, Puntarenas,
Guanacaste, Heredia, Limon (IB);
Belize: Cayo, Corozol, Toledo;
Guatemala,
and
probably
El Salvador and
Panama: Barro Colorado Island;
to most of South America:
Colombia: Choco, Valle del Cauca,
Antioquia;
Ecuador:
Esmeraldas LR,
Carchi WO,
Imbabura WO,
El Oro BF,
Pichincha CL,
Sucumbios WO/LR,
Napo CL,
Orellana WO/LR,
Pastaza WO,
Cotopaxi WO,
Tungurahua WO/LR,
Chimborazo WO,
Canar CL,
Bolivar LR,
Morona Santiago CL;
and in
Peru: Amazonas (LTR), Cajamarca, Loreto,
Junin, Huanuco, Cuzco, Madre de Dios, Ucayali (VI) and probably San Martin;
Bolivia: Cochabamba and Santa Cruz;
Venezuela: Aragua; Miranda; Sucre;
Bolivar; Territorio Delta Amacuro; Monagas: Caripe (MG);
Trinidad;
Guyana;
Suriname;
French Guiana: Territoire de Guyane
and Inini, Kaw;
and
Brazil: Para and Mato Grosso
in low elevation habitats, excluding only Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina.
This species (boreas) is replaced in Peru and Bolivia by australoboreas. I cannot find information in any literature dealing
with specimens from both western and eastern Ecuador. They should be either boreas or australoboreas or something undescribed.
In a 2009 publication Brechlin & Meister indicate boreas is limited to Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados,
Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St.
Vincent and thee Grenadines, Trinidad und Tobago. Inseln, Anguilla,
St. Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla,, Bermuda, British Virgin
Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks-and Caicosinseln and in Central and South America America from
Belize, Guyana, Venezuelas, Colombia and Panama. They do not make comments about specimens from eastern or western Ecuador.
BOLD as of March 1, 2019 continues to list it in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Suriname,
Mexico, Bolivia, Honduras,
Venezuela, Brazil: Para; French Guiana;
Colombia; Panama;
Peru ; Guatemala.
Dysdaemonia boreas male, Umbrellabird Lodge, Jocotoco Foundation Buenaventura Reserve,
near Pinas, El Oro, Ecuador,
February 28, 2014, 1200m, id by Bill Oehlke
Dysdaemonia boreas male, Barro Colorado Island, Panama,
May 1, 2008, courtesy of "Artour A".
HABITAT:
This species flies on both sides of the Andes, but seems restricted to lower elevations.
FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:
Larvae feed upon Red silk cotton tree (Bombax ceiba), White silk cotton tree
(Ceiba pentandra) and Chorisia
In Costa Rica there appears to be at least two broods with moths on the wing from May through August.
Robert Lehman reports them on the wing in Honduras in February-March-April.
FGS reports flights in February and May in French Guiana.
Jason Weigner reports a January flight 20-25 km W of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. (probably australoboreas)
Lorenzo Comoglia reports an April flight in Alluriquin, Pichincha, Ecuador.
Brian Fletcher reports a February flight in El Oro, Ecuador.
Geraldo Lukas reports March-April flight in Curionopolis, Para, Brazil.
Diego Camarena Orozco reports a September flight in Tala, Jalisco, Mexico.
Visit Dysdaemonia boreas probably australoboreas) male, 20-25 km W of
Santa Cruz, Bolivia, January 2010, 1000m, courtesy of Jason Weigner.
Visit Dysdaemonia boreas male 140mm and female 127mm,
Punta Gorda, Toledo, Belize, courtesy of Norm Smith.
Visit Dysdaemonia boreas female,
Union del Toachi-Otongachi, Alluriquin, Pichincha, Ecuador, April, courtesy of Giampaolo via,
Lorenzo Comoglio.
Visit Dysdaemonia boreas male, Tala, Jalisco, Mexico
September 20, 2017, 1800m, courtesy of Diego Camarena Orozco.
Dysdaemonia boreas female,
copyright protected, Kirby Wolfe.
Brant Reif sends this image of a female, taken June 23, 2006, at
Pook's Hill Reserve, Cayo District, Belize.
Gus A. Rentfro confirms an April flight in Puerto Morelos, Qunitana Roo, Mexico, in April, at the onset of the rainy season.
Dysdaemonia boreas male, Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, Mexico, April, courtesy of Gus A. Rentfro.
ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:
Males use their antennae to locate females at night by tracking her airbourne pheromone plume.
EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:
Eggs are apple green when first deposited but shortly turn red, maintaining a white-cream coloured equatorial line.
The incubation is short in the tropical heat and lasts only six days. | 
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Early instar larvae are well adorned with thoracic and anal horns and colouration is that of a bird dropping.
I am convinced there is either an external intelligence or an internal one that provides for camouflage.
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This third or fourth instar larva has picked up the rust-brown colouration of host stem junctures and may well hide
in their proximity during the day.Yellow dorsal and lateral lines match the main leaf stems in
colour. |  |
Larval images are courtesy of Dan Janzen.
The "horns", before their departure in the final instar, are coloured as and are the thickness of main stem veins. |
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In the final instar larvae are very plump and dorsal and lateral lines are perfect thickness and colour to match
central leaf veins on Ceiba pentandra. |  |
Larvae descend tree trunks at maturity to pupate in subterranean chambers. Larvae that pupate during the summer can eclose as moths in
as few as sixteen days.
Dysdaemonia boreas, third instar on Ceiba pentranda,
Ecuador, courtesy of Horst Kach.
Dysdaemonia boreas, third instar on Ceiba pentranda,
Ecuador, courtesy of Horst Kach.
Dysdaemonia boreas larva, copyright protected, Kirby Wolfe.
Dysdaemonia boreas fifth instar, Costa Rica,
June 25, 1983, courtesy of Dan Janzen.
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.
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 "boreas" is the Greek god of the North Wind who lived in Thrace. He is depicted as being winged, extremely strong,
bearded and normally clad in a short pleated tunic.
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