I had originally identified the specimen depicted above as Rothschildia lebeau inca before the new designation of R. interaricia.

TAXONOMY: Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802 Family: Saturniidae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834 Subfamily: Saturniinae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834 Tribe: Attacini, Blanchard, 1840 Genus: Rothschildia, Grote, 1896

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DISTRIBUTION:

Rothschildia interaricia (wingspan: males: 140-145mm; females: mm; forewing length: males: 77-81mm; females: ??) flies in
northern and central Peru: Huanuco; Amazonas; Pasco; Junin.

It has been taken at elevation of 1000-3200m.

Rothschildia interaricia male, Peru, courtesy of Eric van Schayck,
id by Bill Oehlke, changed from aricia to interaricia.

It appears that the forewing outer margin is less oblique below the projected apex in R. interaricia as compared to a quite oblique run in aricia.

The "Aricia Group" now (2012) consists of the following species:
aricia aricia; Colombia and northwestern Venezuela: Merida, Trujillo, Aragua, Carabobo, Yaracuy;
aricia napoecuadoriana; Ecuador: Napo, Morona Santiago;
aricia ariciopichinchensis; Ecuador: Pichincha;
interaricia; Peru: Huanuco, Pasco, Junin, Amazonas;
xanthina xanthina; Peru: Cusco;
xanthina paraxanthina; Bolivia: Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, La Paz.

Members of this group may be hard to determine by just looking at images. Geography might be the best indicator.

Rothschildia aricia aricia

Roths. aricia napoecuadoriana

Roths. aricia ariciopichinchensis

Rothschildia interaricia

Roths. xanthina paraxanthina

Rothschildia xanthina xanthina

Zak van Loocke recently posted some images of a Rothschildia aricia group species from Aguas Verde, Amazonas, Peru, elevation 1500m. The two males had wingspans of 140mm and 145mm, respectively. I thought the moths might well be the recently described Rothschildia aricia napoecuadoriana as they are from the eastern slopes of the Andes, but I now think they are R. interaricia, largely due to the shape of the pm line above the hyaline spot, and the info in the ESs journals, inidicating interaricia from Amazonas, Peru.

Rothschildia interaricia male, Aguas Verde, Amazonas, Peru,
145mm, 1500m, courtesy of Zak Van Loocke.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Specimens have been taken in Peru in May-June-July and October-November-December, suggesting at least annual broods. There are probably additional flight months.

Foodplants are unknown.

Rothschildia interaricia female, Peru, courtesy of Eric van Schayck,
id by Bill Oehlke, changed from aricia to interaricia.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Males use their more highly developed antennae to seek out females who release an airbourne pheromone into the night sky.

Rothschildia interaricia courtesy of Bernhard Wenczel.

Rothschildia interaricia female courtesy of Bernhard Wenczel.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Eggs are deposited in clusters of 6-40+ on hostplant twigs. Larvae have urticating spines and are gregarious, especially in the early instars.

Larval Food Plants

It is hoped that this alphabetical listing followed by the common name of the anticipated 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.

"Rothschildia" is chosen to honour one of the Rothschilds, possibly William.

The species name "interaricia" is indicative of geographic range (Peru) and physical similarity to R. aricia and R. xanthina, formerly treated as a subspecies of R. aricia.

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