Dirphia inexspectata

Updated as per "Description of two new species of Dirphia Hubner, [1819] with notes on Dirphia crassifurca Lemaire, 1971 and Dirphia horca Dognin, 1894" in
SHILAP Revta. lepid., 33 (129), 2005: 39-44, L. Racheli & T. Racheli, courtesy of Luigi Racheli, September 2007

Dirphia inexspectata
DIRF-ee-uhmmin-ex-speck-TAY-tuh
Racheli and Racheli, 2005

Dirphia inexspectata male, Amazonas, Peru, courtesy of Luigi Racheli.

TAXONOMY:

Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802
Family Saturniidae Boisduval, [1837] 1834
Subfamily: Hemileucinae, Grote & Robinson, 1866
Tribe: Hemileucini, Grote & Robinson, 1866
Genus: Dirphia, Hubner, 1819

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DISTRIBUTION:

Dirphia inexspectata (wingspan: males: mm; females; mm) (forewing length: males: 35mm; females: ??mm) flies in
Peru: Amazonas at elevations of 1500m.

The streak in the Y-shaped discal marking is yellow, not black as in D. centralis. The greyish white designs in the fw submarginal area of D. centralis are absent in D. inexspectata. The black Y in the hindwing has inward branches of equal length, is prominent, and its "tail" extends to the submarginal area. There is no greyish line in the hw from the costa to the inner margin as there is in D. centralis.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Specimens have been taken in August and September. Larval hosts are unknown.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Males use highly developed antennae to locate females at night by tracking her airbourne pheromone plume.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Eggs are probably laid in large clusters and larvae probably feed gregariously. Typical of the Subfamily Hemileucinae, Dirphia species all have urticating spines.

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.

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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 "Dirphia" chosen by Hubner in 1819.

The species name "inexspectata", indicates the species ws "unexpected".