DISTRIBUTION:

Periphoba tarapoto (forewing length: males: 39-41mm; females: 58-59mm) (wingspan: males: 78-85; females: 101-105) flies at low to medium elevations (420m to 1800m) in
Peru: Amazonas, San Martin, Cusco, Puno, and in
Bolivia: La Paz.

The abdomen is orange, ringed with black. Ground colour ranges from light yellowish brown to dull brown, suffused with backish scaling.

Periphoba tarapoto female copyright Kirby Wolfe

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

There seems to be at least two flights in Peru: December-January and June-July. In Bolivia this speceis has been taken in October. Larvae feed on fire thorn (Pyracantha rogersiana) in captivity.

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.

Periphoba tarapoto female courtesy of Thibaud Decaens.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Eggs are deposited in clusters on hostplant foliage.

Periphoba tarapoto larvae are gregarious and have the urticating spines typical of larvae from the Subfamily Hemileucinae.

The long pair of posterior "spikes" and the more extensive anterior "spinage" are typical of mature Periphoba larvae.

Image courtesy of Thibaud Decaens.

Larval Food Plants

Listed below are primary food plant(s) and alternate food plants listed in Stephen E. Stone's Foodplants of World Saturniidae and/or on various internet sites and/or from personal communication. 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.

Pyracantha rogersiana......

Fire thorn (Thibaud Decaens)

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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 "Periphoba" chosen by Hubner in 1820.

The species name "tarapoto" is for Tarapoto, San Martin, Peru, the approximate locale of the holotype.

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