DISTRIBUTION:

Hyperchiria australoacuta (wingspan: males: 52mm; females: mm / forewing length: males: 25-26mm; females: mm) flies in
Peru: Cusco: Vallee de Quillabamba; Madre de Dios: Manu Park: Camicana Chico, Rio Carbon;
Bolivia: La Paz: Nor Yungas; Cochabamba.

Please note: The advent of DNA barcoding has resulted in many new descriptions (approximately 200 "new" Saturniidae species, 2010; even more 2011-2013). In many cases the "new" species are quite similar to existing species. Do not be surprised if more refined testing or revisions of "thresholds of difference" result in some synonymies or even more species/subspecies designations. Subsequent rearing may or may not indicate differences in larval appearance. It will be interesting to see how this all pans out.

Hyperchiria australoacuta male, 52mm, La Paz, Bolivia,
on my home computer only.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Specimens have been reported taken in January (Peru), July (Peru) and November (Bolivia). There are probably additional flight months.

Hyperchiria australoacuta larvae probably eat Berberis lauina, Cassia corymbosa, Celtis spinosa, Fagus, Ficus benjamina, Laburnum, Platanus orientalis, Quercus, Quercus ilex and Serjania.

Visit the Hyperchiria plicata Group to see a comparison plate covering the eight species listed by Brechlin and Meister, 2013, as belonging to the Hyperchiria plicata Group, which has species where the iris of the hindwing ocellus is red with a relatively small white pupil, and the hindwing ground colour is beige to pale grey or light yellow to orange, not the brigth yellow seen in the incisa group.

Hyperchiria australoacuta?? female, Chapare, Cochabamba, Bolivia,
courtesy of Thibaud Decaens and G. Lecourt,
tentative id by Bill Oehlke.

As of November, 2013, three Hyperchiria species in the plicata group are described from Bolivia:
Hyperchiria acutapex from La Paz; Hyperchiria extremapex from La Paz; Hyperchiria australoacuta from La Paz and Cochabamba; and Peru: Cusco and Madre de Dios.

The images of female acutapex and extremapex are very similar with acutapex having a deep notch in the outer margin just below the tip of the truncated apex, followed by a much shallower notch. In extremapex, the upper notch is not so prevalent and the lower notch is practically non-existent, giving the outer edge of the truncated apex a concave appearance. In females of both these species, the hindwing ocellus is relatively small and distant form the median band.

The female from Chapare, Cochabamba, Bolivia, has two relatively equal notches in the truncated apex, and the hindwing ocellus is larger and almost tangential to the median band. The submarginal band is wider than in either of the other two "species". I think the Chapare female is probably a female H. australoacuta (as yet undescribed), by process of elimination.

It is also possible, to my eye, that all three females are really slight variations of the same species. (Bill Oehlke).

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Males use well-developed antennae to seek out females which scent at night.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Typical of species in the Genus Hyperchiria and the Subfamily Hemileucinae, the larvae are armed with urticating spines.

Larval Food Plants

It is hoped that this alphabetical listing followed by the common name of the anticipated foodplants will prove useful. The list is not exhaustive. Experimenting with closely related foodplants is worthwhile.

Berberis lauina Cassia corymbosa ....... Celtis spinosa Fagus Ficus benjamina Laburnum Platanus orientalis Quercus Quercus ilex Serjania

Barberry Autumn senna Hackberry Beech Benjamin tree Bean tree Oriental sycamore Oak Holly/Holm oak Serjania

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