DISTRIBUTION:

Hylesia tapareba (wingspan: males: 42-50mm; females: 57-67mm) flies in
Guyana: Mazaruni-Potaro;
French Guiana: Camopi, Kaw, Cayenne, Regina, Coralie, Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni;
Venezuela: Bolivar;
(probably Suriname;)
Colombia: ;
Ecuador: Napo, Morona-Santiago and probably Pastaza;
Peru: Huanuco, Junin; and
Brazil: Amazonas; Bahia; Federal District; Minas Gerais; Sao Paulo; probably Mato Grosso (WO?), at elevations from 100-1000m.

Tends to be a cerrado species in Brazil.

Antennae are orange yellow. Thorax dark brown, abdomen dorsally brown with many yellowish hairs. Forewing: falcate, strongly produced and darker apex. Otherwise almost uniform dull brown with lighter, greyish am and pm lines visible on fresh specimens. Oval cell spot with central darker streak. cerrado species in Brazil.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Larval hosts are unknown.

This species probably broods continuously on a three month cycle.

Hylesia tapareba female, Coralie, Cayenne Regina, French Guiana,
May 6, 1989, Claude Lemaire, on my home computer only.

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.

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 tapareba female, on my home computer only.

Hylesia tapareba female (verso), on my home computer only.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Eggs are deposited in clusters on hostplant foliage.

Hylesia tapareba 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 Sturniidae Index

Hylesia tapareba male, Coralie, Cayenne Regina, French Guiana,
May 6, 1989, Claude Lemaire, on my home computer only.

Hylesia tapareba male, on my home computer only.