Lonomia beneluzi
luh-NOH-mee-uhMBEN-eh-looz-eye
Lemaire 2002

Lonomia beneluzi (female), French Guiana, courtesy of Eric van Schayck.

TAXONOMY: Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802 Family: Saturniidae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834 Subfamily: Hemileucinae Genus: Lonomia, Walker, 1855 Species: beneluzi, Draudt, 1929

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DISTRIBUTION:

Lonomia beneluzi (forewing length: males: ?; females: 49-53mm) flies in
northeastern French Guiana: south of Cayenne.

The moth is named to honour collector Frederic Beneluz.

Lonomia beneluzi (female), French Guiana, courtesy of Eric van Schayck.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Moths are on the wing in December-January, April, July and probably October-November, suggesting three or four continuous broods.

Larval host is unknown.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Females emit a scent into the night sky. Males fly into the wind and track the pheromone plume with their antennae.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Typical of the Subfamily Hemileucinae, Lonomia species all have urticating spines and are potentially quite dangerous, possibly even deadly.

Larvae are gregarious.

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.

I do not know the source of the genus name "Lonomia" chosen by Walker in 1855.

The species name "beneluzi" is honourific for collector Frederic Beneluz.

This page is designed and maintained by Bill Oehlke as part of the World's Largest Saturniidae Site.