DISTRIBUTION:

Giacomellia escobari flies in
Paraguay: Alto Paraguay, Madrejon, 150 m (CL), and in Boqueron and Presidente Hayes (UD).

The weak forewing bands are brown and much less prominent on this species, compared to bilineata and vanschaycki, but there is a much greater speckling of grey dots on the forewings.

Giacomelia escobari, San Lorenzo*, Central Department, Paraguay,
August 2009, courtesy of Paul Smith.

I do not know if the specimen depicted above was captured in San Lorenzo or simply housed there at Museo Nacional de Historia Natural del Paraguay. Lemaire lists it from further north, but it could be in Central Department.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Giacomellia escobari probably flies in January, May and again in the late summer-fall (August).

Larval hosts are unknown.

Giacomellia escobari female, Paraguay, courtesy of Ulf Drechsel

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Adult Giacomellia escobari moths emerge from subterranean pupae, and males are slightly smaller than females.

EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:

Night-flying females lay white-banded, translucent, green eggs on host plant leaves. The developing larvae can be seen through the egg shells.

Giacomellia escobari eggs, Paraguay, courtesy of Ulf Drechsel.

Larvae pupate underground in small chambers.

Care of larvae and pupae should be as for any Neotropical species.

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.

Ezequiel Osvaldo Nunez Bustos writes, "The name of the genus is honourific for an Italian entomologist that lived many years in La Rioja Province. His name was Eugenio Giacomelli, and he described some new species in the areas of La Rioja and Cordoba."

The species name "escobari" is honourific for Escobar.