DISTRIBUTION:

Rhescyntis hermes (wingspan: males: 110-163mm; females: 142-182mm // Mfwl: 81-98mm; Ffwl: larger) flies in damp tropical and equatorial woods in
Guyana: Demera-Mahaica: Georgetown;
French Guiana: Saint-Jean-du-Maroni, Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, Cayenne, Belizon, Kaw;
Venezuela: Territorio Federal Amazonas, probably Bolivar;
Brazil: Para, Mato Grosso; and
I suspect ?? it also flies throughout most of
Suriname ??

Hermes has an almost uniform dark olive brown ground colour, distinguishing it from hippodamia and pseudomartii, both of which have much paler, contrasting areas.

The images previously on this page from Peru and Ecuador have been moved to the Rhescyntis hermes hermandensis page. I am not sure if the reports from Orellana and Morona-Satiago, Ecuador, would be nominate hermes or hermes hermandensis.

Based on images I have seen, subspecies hermandensis has a slightly more concave pm line than in the darker nominate subspecies. In the nominate subspecies, the pm line/band tends to be straighter and darker with a gradual, slight, even lightening of colour toward the median area. In subspecies hermandensis there seems to be a subparallel tracing of the pm line/band with a narrow lighter area between lines/bands. R. hermes hermandensis specimens tend to be slightly larger than the nominate subspecies.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

FGS reports a flight in January-February in French Guiana. There may be additional flights.

Rhescyntis hermes male, French Guiana, courtesy of Carlot Didier.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Rhescyntis hermes males use their antennae to seek out females which scent at night.

Rhescyntis hermes female, French Guiana, January, 1998, courtesy of Bill Garthe.

EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:

Larvae pupate in subterranean chambers.

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.

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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 'Rhescyntis' chosen by Hubner in 1819.

The species name 'hermes' is from Greek mythology. "Hermes, the herald of the Olympian gods, is son of Zeus and the nymph Maia, daughter of Atlas and one of the Pleiades. Hermes is the god of shepherds, land travel, merchants, weights and measures, oratory, literature, athletics and thieves, and known for his cunning and shrewdness. Most importantly, he is the messenger of the gods." Ron Leadbetter

Rhescyntis hermes male, Kaw, French Guiana, Rene Lahousse, on my home computer only,
photo copyright Rene Lahousse.

Rhescyntis hermes female, Belizon, French Guiana, Robert Vande Merghel,
on my home computer only, photo copyright Rene Lahousse.