DISTRIBUTION:

Dirphia diasi (wingspan: males: 98mm; females: 108mm // mfwl: 50mm; ffwl: 55mm) flies in southeastern Brazil: Sao Paulo: Sao Carlos. It was originally described as belonging to the Periphoba genus.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Specimens have been taken in March and November, indicating at least two broods annually.

Larval hosts remain unknown.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Females extend a scent gland from the tip of the abdomen, and the males pick up and track the airbourne pheromone plume with their well-developed antennae.

Dirphia diasi AT female, Sao Carlos, Sao Paulo, Brazil,
108mm, November, 1975, 600m, courtesy of Claude Lemaire.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Eggs are probably deposited in clusters on hostplant foliage.

Dirphia diasi larvae are probably highly gregarious and probably 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 Periphoba Index

Return to Dirphia Index

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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 "Dirphia" chosen by Hubner in 1819.

The species name "diasi" is honourific for collector M. M. Dias.

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

Visit Periphoba diasi original description, now Dirphia diasi