Polythysana cinerascens
pol-lee-thigh-ZAY-nuhmm sin-ur-AS-ens
(Phillipi, 1859) (Attacus cinerascens)

Polythysana cinerascens male courtesy of Kirby Wolfe.

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Comments, suggestions and/or additional information are welcomed by Bill.

TAXONOMY: Superfamily: Bombycoidea Latreille, 1802 Family: Saturniidae Boisduval, [1837] 1834 Subfamily: Hemileucinae, Grote & Robinson, 1866 Tribe: Polythysanini, Michener, 1952 Genus: Polythysana, Walker, 1855

DISTRIBUTION:

Polythysana cinerascens (forewing length: males: 29-41mm; females: 43-53mm) flies in
central (30-43 S latitude) Chile: Coquimbo, Valparaiso, Santiago, Curico, Talca, Nuble, Concepcion, Malleco, Cautin, Valdivia and Llanquihue.

Visit Polythysana cinerascens in copula, live male and live female, Quilpue, Valparaiso Region, Chile, courtesy of Fernando Calvo.

Polythysana cinerascens male, Temuco, Araucania, Chile,
March 26, 2011, courtesy of Horst Kach.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

The Polythysana cinerascens caterpillar shows a preference for the evergreens: Mayten (Maytenus boaria) and Cryptocarya Rubra (Cryptocarya rubra) and Cryptocarya peumus.

Fernando Calvo rears them in their native habitat on "Maytenus boaria, though P. cinerascens larvae is polyphage. Some examples of other foodplants they like are Cupressus macrocarpa, Rosa sp, Aristotelia chilensis, Nothofagus sp, Cydonia oblonga, Beilschmiedia miersii, Kageneckia oblonga, and even the very common Schinus molle."

Moths are on the wing during the Chilean fall, late February-March-early April.

Polythysana cinerascens male, on Maytenis boaria, Quilpue, Chile, February, 2019, courtesy of Fernando Calvo.

ECLOSION:

Adults eclose from simple, pear-shaped, open mesh cocoons.

SCENTING AND MATING:

Polythysana cinerascens females emit an airbourne pheromone and the smaller males use their highly developed antennae to track the scent plume during the day (10:00am-noon) to locate the calling females. Males fly with other Polythysana species at midday. Females fly in late afternoon to after dark.

Polythysana cinerascens female, Curico, Chile,
March 28, 2000, courtesy of Hubert Mayer.

Polythysana cinerascens, female, La Serena, Chile, February, 1999, courtesy of Matthias Kuehling

Polythysana cinerascens, female, Chile, courtesy of Bernhard Wenczel and Viktor Suter.

EGGS, CATERPILLARS, COCOONS AND PUPAE: This species is very slow to develop. Fernando Calvo provides the following information: Eggs were deposited on April 17th, 2010 Date of hatching: June 15th Date of 1st moult (2nd instar): July 16th Date of 2nd moult (3rd instar): August 10th Date of 3rd moult (4th instar): August 25th Date of 4th moult (5th instar): September 10th Date of beginning spinning cocoon: October 5th. Mature larvae spin a simple, pear-shaped, open mesh cocoon. Larvae have urticating spines typical of Hemileucinae. Image courtesy of Bernhard Wenczel.

Polythysana cinerascens first instars, Quilpue (129m), Valparaiso Region, Chile,
June 15, reared on Maytenus boaria, courtesy of Fernando Calvo.

Polythysana cinerascens second instar, Quilpue (129m), Valparaiso Region, Chile,
August 10, reared on Maytenus boaria, courtesy of Fernando Calvo.

Polythysana cinerascens second instar, Quilpue (129m), Valparaiso Region, Chile,
August 10, reared on Maytenus boaria, courtesy of Fernando Calvo.

Polythysana cinerascens third instar, Quilpue (129m), Valparaiso Region, Chile,
August 25, reared on Maytenus boaria, courtesy of Fernando Calvo.

Polythysana cinerascens fourth instar, Quilpue (129m), Valparaiso Region, Chile,
August 25, reared on Maytenus boaria, courtesy of Fernando Calvo.

Polythysana cinerascens early fifth instar, Quilpue (129m), Valparaiso Region, Chile,
September 10, reared on Maytenus boaria, courtesy of Fernando Calvo.

There are dorsal dark black bands across the second and third thoracic segments, forward of the spinage on each segment. These bands become visible when the segments are extended or bent.

Matthias Kuehling writes: "I'm more or less certain that the only cocoon (on the tree) was fixed on the bark of Maitén (Maytenus boaria), one feet or two feet above the ground. Note the very porous structure of the cocoon and the camouflage on tree bark by incorporating yellowed leaves. It would be most interesting to watch the spinning process to see if the larva actually transported the leaves to the spinning site or if they are from an adjacent bush, growing against the tree bole.

After the female eclosed, Matthias opened the cocoon to inspect the pupa and discarded larval skin.

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.

Aristotelia chilensis (FC) Beilschmiedia miersii (FC) ....... Cryptocarya rubra...... Cryptocarya peumus Cupressus macrocarpus Cydonia oblonga (FC) Kageneckia oblonga (FC) Maytenus boaria Nothofagus sp (FC) Rosa sp (FC) Schinus molle (FC)

Maqui or Chilean Wineberry Northern belloto Red Laurel Cryptocarya Peumus Monterey Cypress Quince Bollen Mayten Antartic Beech Rose Brazillian Peppertree

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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 "Polythysana" chosen by Walker in 1855.

The species name "cinerascens" probably refers to the ashy-grey colour of the holotype female.

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