DISTRIBUTION:

Paradirphia antonia flies in
western and central Colombia in medium to high elevation cloud forest (2500 - 2700 m).

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Larvae probably feed on Malus, Prunus, and Robinia pseudoacacia.

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.

Paradirphia antonia 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.

Malus Prunus Robinia pseudoacacia.....

Apple Cherry Black locust/False acacia

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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 "Paradirphia" chosen by Michener in 1849, but it probably has to do with the similarity of these moths to those in the genus Dirphia.

The species name "antonia" is possibly honourific for Antonia Major who was a daughter to Mark Antony and Octavia Minor and niece to Caesar Augustus, Rome’s first Emperor.