DISTRIBUTION:

Dirphia panamensis fassli (wingspan: males: 70-81mm; females: 81-90mm) flies in eastern slopes of Andes in
Bolivia: La Paz, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz;
Ecuador: Napo and Morona-Santiago and possibly Pastaza and Zamora-Chinchipe; and
Peru: Cajamarca, Huanuco, Cusco, and probably Pasco, Junin and Puno.

Dirphia panamensis fassli pair, Nor Yungas (Bolivia), T. Decaëns & G. Lecourt.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

January-February, May, July-August, November-December, probably brooding continuously. There are at least two generations annually with peak flights in February and July. Larvae accept Robinia pseudoacacia in captivity. Steve Ife reports success on both oak and willow.

Dirphia panamensis fassli female, Misahualli, Napo, Ecuador, courtesy of Steve Ife.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING: Males use highly developed antennae to locate females by tracking their airbourne pheromone plumes. As per all Saturniidae species, the moths must be able to hang freely in order to successfully pump fluid into the wing veins for full inflation. Dirphia panamensis fassli female, Misahualli, Napo, Ecuador, courtesy of Steve Ife.

Dirphia panamensis fassli male, Ecuador, courtesy of Leroy Simon.

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.

Dirphia panamensis fassli, first instars on Salix caprea, Ecuador, courtesy of Uwe Kauz.

Dirphia panamensis fassli, second instar on Salix caprea, Ecuador, courtesy of Uwe Kauz.

Dirphia panamensis fassli, fifth instar on Salix caprea, Ecuador, courtesy of Uwe Kauz.

Lemaire reports the mature larvae are yellowish green with apple green scoli. The cocoon is flimsy and of brown silk. The discarded skin in the cocoon depicted below, does not seem to match Lemaire's description. However, there may be variation in larvae. I will ask Steve Ife for a description of the larvae.

Dirphia panamensis fassli cocoon, Misahualli, Napo, Ecuador, courtesy of Steve Ife.

Live moths and cocoons depicted on this page are ex-ova from a live female taken August 9 by Steve Ife.

Uwe Kauz mentioned larval colour change at maturity and sends the followng two images:

Foodplants

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 Robinia pseudoacacia ........ Salix

Oak False Acacia Willow

Use your browser "Back" button to return to the previous page. The following links may not be active.

Return to Main Saturniidae Index

Return to Dirphia Index

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 "panamensis" indicates the specimen type locality (Panama) for the nomenotypical subspecies

The subspecies name "fassli" is honourific for Fassl.