Dirphiopsis flora
DIRF-ee-op-sisMFLOOR-uh
(Schaus, 1911) Ormiscodes

Dirphiopsis flora male courtesy of Kirby Wolfe copyright.

TAXONOMY: Superfamily Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802 Family Saturniidae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834 Subfamily Hemileucinae Genus: Dirphiopsis, Bouvier, 1928

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DISTRIBUTION:

Dirphiopsis flora (wingspan: males: 54-74mm; females: 70-90mm) flies in
Costa Rica: Cartago, San Jose, Puntarenas (CL), Alajuela, Heredia, Limon (IB);
Honduras: Cortes, Olancho, Lempira;
Nicaragua: Jinotega, Matagalpa;
Panama: Chiriqui;
Venezuela: Barinas;
Colombia: Valle;
Ecuador: Sucumbios, Pichincha, Napo, Pastaza and Morona-Santiago and probably Carchi, Imbabura, Orellana and Esmeraldas;
Peru (both sides of Andes: Huanuco, Junin, Cusco, Madre de Dios); and
Bolivia: La Paz and maybe Santa Cruz.

It has been taken at elevations from 400m to 1600m.

Dirphiopsis flora (female), Costa Rica, courtesy of Dan Janzen.

Dirphiopsis flora male, Pichincha, Ecuador ??,
courtesy/copyright Kelly Price, tentative id by Bill Oehlke.

Kelly Price was unsure of the collecting data for the specimen depicted above, but he indicated he felt it might be from Pichincha, Ecuador. I used that hunch and the size of the specimen to identify it as D. flora as opposed to the slightly larger pulchricornis and wolfei which fly elsewhere.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Moths probably brood continuously. Lorenzo Comoglio reports an April flight in Alluriquin, Pichincha, Ecuador.

Dirphiopsis flora male, Union del Toachi, Otongachi, Alluriquin, Pichincha, Ecuador,
S 00° 19.247' W 78° 57.103', April 2007, 838m, courtesy of Giampaolo, via Lorenzo Comoglio.

Larvae feed upon wisteria and Schinus gracilipes and Quercus seemannii.

Kirby Wolfe has reared this species on Malosma (=Rhus) laurina.

Dirphiopsis flora (male), Costa Rica, courtesy of Dan Janzen.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Males use highly developed antennae to locate females by tracking their airbourne pheromone plumes.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Eggs are light green and semi-transparent. Fertile eggs develop a black micropyle. Early instars are green with black heads. Green skin remains fairly constant, but heads go from black to red to green through successive molts. There are usually six instars. Typical of the Subfamily Hemileucinae, Dirphiopsis species all have urticating spines. The pupa is black and smooth with a sharp, narrow cremaster.

Dirphiopsis flora sixth instar, courtesy of Kirby Wolfe. copyright.

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.

Quercus seemannii...... Malosma laurina Schinus gracilipes Wisteria

Oak Laurel sumac Peppertree Wisteria

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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.

Dirphipopsis was probably chosen as the genus name due to similarity of these moths to those in Dirphia genus. I do not know the source of the genus name Dirphia chosen by Hubner in 1819.

In Roman mythology, Flora was a goddess of flowers and the season of spring.