Leucanella bonillensis
loo-kuh-NELL-uhMbah-nil-LENS-sis
Thibaud Decaens & Rodolphe Rougerie, 2008

Leucanella bonillensis male, Boyaca, Colombia,
December 1, 2002, 1500m, courtesy of Thibaud Decaens.

Leucanella bonillensis male, Charta, Santander, Colombia,
March 5, 2018, courtesy of Andre Poremski.

TAXONOMY: Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802 Family: Saturniidae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834 Subfamily: Hemileucinae, Grote & Robinson, 1866 Tribe: Hemileucinae, Grote & Robinson, 1866 Genus: Leucanella, Lemaire, 1969

DISTRIBUTION:

Leucanella bonillensis (wingspan: males: 79-80mm; females: unknown) flies in
Colombia: Boyaca: Muzo region.

Colombia: Boyaca: Muzo: Boyaca, Vereda Caviche, 5.521, -74.183, collected by G. Lecourt & D. Bonilla, 2003-12-01. (Mirror)

I believe the image from Charta, Santander, Colombia, is also L. bonillensis as holotype is also on western slopes of easternmost mountain range, and there is limited contrast between subterminal and terminal areas of forewing.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Specimens have been taken in December.

Leucanella bonillensis male (verso), Boyaca, Colombia,
December 1, 2002, 1500m, courtesy of Thibaud Decaens.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

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

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Eggs are laid in clusters and larvae, which have urticating spines, feed gregariously.

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.

Ligustrum......

Privet

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 "Leucanella" chosen by Lemaire in 1969. PERHAPS (pure speculation by Bill Oehlke) it was chosen for the "little light" spots surrounding the pupil in the type species leucane.

The species name "bonillensis" is honourific for collector D. Bonilla

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Leucanella bonillenis, acutissima, newmani, on my home computer only.