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

Dirphia naumanni male, Peru, courtesy of Viktor Suter via Bernhard Wenczel.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

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

I suspect the larvae will accept oak, but the natural host plants are unknown.

Dirphia naumanni sixth instar, Peru, courtesy of Viktor Suter via Bernhard Wenczel.

Dirphia naumanni seventh instar, Peru, courtesy of Viktor Suter via Bernhard Wenczel.

Dirphia naumanni seventh instar, Peru, courtesy of Viktor Suter via Bernhard Wenczel.

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 "naumanni", is honourific for Stefan Naumann.