DISTRIBUTION:

Hylesia subcottica (wingspan: males: 34-39mm; females: 42-57mm) flies in
French Guiana: Kaw, Cayenne, Coralie;
Venezuela: Yaracuy;
Ecuador: Sucumbios, Napo, Morona-Santiago and probably Pastaza;
Peru: Loreto, Huanuco, Cusco;
Brazil: Para, Amazonas, Rondonia, Bahia, (possibly Ceara), Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Parana, probably Mato Grosso WO?); and
Argentina: (Tucuman tentative (Claude Lemaire)) and probably provinces of Salta, Jujuy, Formosa, Chaco and Santiago del Estero), and probably in Paraguay.

I am pretty sure the image sent to me from Yacutinga, Misiones, Agentina, by Ezequiel Bustos, is Hylesia subcottica.

Hylesia subcottica?? male, Yacutinga, Misiones, Argentina,
September 11, 2010, courtesy of Ezequiel Osvaldo Nunez Bustos,
tentative id, and some digital repair by Bill Oehlke.

Ezequiel writes, "I forget to send these two Hylesia species, but I believe the male is neither nigricans nor remex. I don´t sure what species is it. It is from Yacutinga, at 11/09/2010.

"The second is a female of Hylesia nigricans (posted on nigricans page) from Río Carabelas, Delta del Paraná (Buenos Aires), at 15/01/2010."

The thorax is brown and the abdomen is orange. The brown forewings are elongate with a very slightly produced, rounded apex. The am line is indistinct from a dark basal area, while the two outer lines (postmedial and subterminal), are fused, forming a wide bar, parallelling the oblique outer margin. The cell mark is large and darker than surroundings in a lighter median area. There is a pale suboval patch just below the forewing apex, followed by a darker region and then a lighter, diffuse, wide bar in the subterminal area.

The hindwings are without markings except for faint cell mark.

Specimens have been taken at elevations from 300 - 980m.

Hylesia subcottica male, on my home computer only.

Hylesia subcottica?? male, Tiangua, Ceara, Brazil,
January 16, 2017, courtesy of Sylvia Barroso, very tentative id by Bill Oehlke.

Hylesia subcottica male, Itanhandu, southeastern Minas Gerais, Brazil,
November 9, 2010, courtesy of Larry Valentine,
tentative id by Bill Oehlke, could also be remex.

Hylesia subcottica male (verso), Itanhandu, southeastern Minas Gerais, Brazil,
November 9, 2010, courtesy of Larry Valentine,
tentative id by Bill Oehlke. could also be remex.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

If my identification of the specimen from Itanhandu is correct, there is a November flight in that area. Lemaire lists January and March flights in French Guiana; February and August flights in Rio de Janeiro; June, August-September and November-December flights in Peru, so the species probably broods continuously.

Larval hosts are unknown.

This species probably broods continuously on a three month cycle. Flight records exist for ??

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

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

Hylesia frederici/umbrata/subcottica/tapareba ?? female, Amazone Nature Lodge, Kaw Rd6, French Guiana,
64mm, September 2018, courtesy of Roy Morris, very tentative id by Bill Oehlke.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Eggs are deposited in clusters on hostplant foliage.

Hylesia subcottica 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.

Return to Hylesia Index

Return to Main Saturniidae Index

Hylesia subcottica male, on my home computer only.