|
Updated as per Some New Saturniidae species from Peru, Stefan Naumann, U. Brosch, B. Wenczel, September 6, 2006
|
Dirphia mielkeorum male, Cusco, Peru, 800-1200m, Rainer Marx
TAXONOMY:Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802 |
"What.A.Wonderful.World" |
Dirphia mielkeorum male, 77mm, Madre de Dios, Peru,
on my home computer only.
The hindwing has an orange basal area with a 5mm lenticular black dot.The wing shows dark and light grey regions in the median and postmedian areas.
The ventral surface of all wings is a uniform ochreous grey.
The moth is very similar in appearance to Dirphia aculea and Dirphia subhorca.
Dirphia mielkeorum male (verso), Cusco, Peru, 800-1200m, Rainer Marx
Males use highly developed antennae to locate females at night by tracking her airbourne pheromone plume.
|
Return to Dirphia Genus
Goto South American Saturniidae Directory
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 "mielkeorum", is honourific for Carlos Guilherme C. Mielke and his father Prof. Dr. Olaf H. H. Mielke from Carambei, Parana, Brazil.