Hylesia roseata
Updated from Polillas Saturnidas de Colombia, 1997, Angela R. Amarillo-S., January 2007
Updated as per Lemaire's Hemileucinae 2002, January 16, 2009
Updated as per personal communication with Les Catchick (Owlet Lodge, Abra Patricia, Amazonas, Peru, 2300m, September 29, 2018); May 2, 2020

Hylesia roseata
Dognin, 1914

Hylesia roseata male, Napo, Ecuador,
February 7, 1980, 2150m, Claude Lemaire, on my home computer only.

Hylesia roseata male, on my home computer only.

Hylesia roseata?? male, Owlet Lodge, Abra Patricia, Amazonas, Peru,
September 29, 2018, 2300m, courtesy of Les Catchick, tentative id by Bill Oehlke.

I feel the specimen from Owlet Lodge, above, is either H. roseata or H. rosehuanucensis, Brechlin & Meister, 2016, from Huanuco, Peru, 2580m. The two species are very similar in appearance and fly at high elevations on the eastern side of the Andes.

TAXONOMY:

Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802
Family: Saturniidae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834
Subfamily: Hemileucinae, Grote & Robinson, 1866
Tribe: Hemileucinae, Grote & Robinson, 1866
Genus: Hylesia, Hubner, [1820]

DISTRIBUTION:

Hylesia roseata (wingspan: males: 45-54mm; females: 55-58mm) flies in
Colombia: Putamayo;
Venezuela: Barinas and
Ecuador: Napo, Morona-Santiago and probably Pastaza; and
possibly Peru: Amazonas: Abra Patricia: Owlet Lodge (LC).

The thorax is black with pinkish hairs on the tegulae. The abdomen is black with a beige tuft.

The forewing is elongate and slightly apically produced with a concave outer margin. Ground colour is pinkish-grey with wide diffuse brown lines. The pm line is slightly s-shaped and is outwardly bordered by pinkish grey. It is tangent to the lower reaches of the dark cell marking. The am line is dark, diffuse and slightly angled on the cubitus.

This species has been recorded at elevations between 1500m and 2400m.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Larval hosts are unknown.

This species probably broods continuously on a three month cycle. Records exist for December-January-February-March-April, and July-August.

Hylesia roseata female, Napo, Ecuador,
February 7, 1980, 2150m, Claude Lemaire, on my home computer only.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

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

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Eggs are deposited in clusters on hostplant foliage.

Hylesia roseata 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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