DISTRIBUTION:

Dirphiella pseudotaylori (wingspan: males: 52mm; females: 71mm // forewng length: males: 28mm; females: 36mm) flies in
Mexico: Oaxaca; at elevations near 1485m, possibly as high as 2300m.

Dirphiella pseudotaylori is described from Oaxaca, Mexico, by Brechlin and Meister in 2014.

In both the male and female of D. pseudotaylori there is a dark suffusion of scales in the forewing costal region just inside the outer edge of the cell (absent in taylori), and the dark section of the forewing pm line in pseudotaylori, although dark, is not as wide as it is in taylori.

The hindwing, black pm line is more angulate and thinner in pseudtaylori than in taylori. I have not seen a female of taylori depicted, but the female images submitted by Bernhard Wenczel and Viktor Suter seem a very good match for D. pseudotaylori.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

This montane species flies at night in June and August. There may be additional flight months, but possibly there is a single summer flight from June until August.

Dirphiella pseudotaylori AT female, 71 mm, Oaxaca, Mexico,
June, 2010, 1485m, on my home computer only.

Dirphiella taylori/pseudotaylori?? female, Oaxaca, Mexico,
between the villages San Gabriel de Mixtepec and San Pedro Juchatengo,
cloud forest, 2300m, courtesy of Bernhard Wenczel and Viktor Suter.

Dirphiella taylori/pseudotaylori?? female (verso), Oaxaca, Mexico,
between the villages San Gabriel de Mixtepec and San Pedro Juchatengo,
cloud forest, 2300m, courtesy of Bernhard Wenczel and Viktor Suter.

Due to the grey suffusions in the forewing costal area just inside the outer edge of the cell, I believe the Bernhard Wenczel and Viktor Suter images directly above are most likely Dirphiella pseudotaylori.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Females extend a scent gland from the tip of the abdomen, and the males pickup and track the airbourne pheromone plume with their well-developed antennae.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Eggs are probably deposited in clusters on hostplant foliage.

Dirphiella taylori larvae are highly gregarious and have the urticating spines typical of larvae from the Subfamily Hemileucinae.

Larval Food Plants

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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