Arsenurinae Ars. armida PS A. orbignyana AE C. sonthonnaxi UD D. brasiliensis WO? Dys. fosteri WO? Parad. thelia PS

Attacinae R. a. speculif. WO? R. e. erycina WO? R. hes. lutea WO? R. hopfferi PS R. jacobaeae WO? Saturniinae Cop. decrescens PS Cop. flavina PS

Ceratocampinae Ad. catharina WO? Adelon. fallax WO? Ad. s. sabulosa PS Ad. subangul. PS Almeid. corrupta PS Aw. flavosig. PS Aw. tristygma PS Cith. brissottii PS Cith. laocoon PS Citi. anthonilis WO? E. i. tucumana PS Neor. basirei PS Oit. luteciae PS Oit. convergens PS Psilop. walkeri WO? Schausi. arpi WO? S. hypoxantha WO? Sco. viettei PS Syss. molina PS

Hemileucinae Autom. amoena PS Autom. basalis PS Autom. beckeri WO? A. b. tamphilus WO? Autom. hamata WO? Aut. illustris PS Aut. naranja PS Aut. submacula PS D. avialtoparanensis Dirphia moderata PS Dirphio. trisig WO? Dir. epiolina WO? Eubergia caisa PS Eudya. venata KA/PS Gam. catharina PS H. pagenstecheri PS Hidripa taglia WO?

Hemileucinae Hyl. falcifera WO? Hyl. metapyrrhaPS Hylesia remex WO? Hylesia rufex CL Hyl. scortina PS Hyperch. incisa PS Ithomisa lepta WO? L.. m. gardineri PS Lon. obliqua PS M.. convergens WO? Mol. cruenta PS Mol. simillima PS P. circumstans PS Pseu. luteata PS

Located in southeastern Paraguay, bordering the northeastern Argentinian province of Misiones, the Itapua Department is probably host to many Saturniidae species. Unfortunately the reporting from the department has been scarce, and as of (September 2007) there is little publicly available documentation for this area.

I have utilized the Paraguay biodversity maps (which do not cover Itapua), Lemaire's range data for northeastern Argentina and southeastern Brazil, and some general research into the biotypes present in Itapua to draft the "tentative" checklists posted above.

Please note, all those entries followed by WO? are my own interpolations/extrapolations and are not supported byactual reports or images.

Fortunately, Paul Smith and a team of researchers are currently cataloguing the flora and fauna in the area, and they should be able to provide much information. Already Paul has granted permission to post the Copiopteryx sonthonnaxi image at the top of this page as well as the Copaxa flavina, Automeris naranja and Catharisa cerina images which follow the map, all from San Rafael District, Itapua.

Copaxa flavina male, Itapua Department, Paraguay, August 2006,
courtesy of Paul Smith.

Automeris naranja male, Hotel Tirol, Itapua Department, Paraguay, August 2006,
courtesy of Paul Smith.

Use your browser "Back" button to return to the previous page. Saturniidae from Itapua are on display at http://www.faunaparaguay.com/saturniidae.html, and Paul has indicated he will update this page on a regular basis.

Hi Bill
For your info here are the latest new records for Saturnids from San Rafael in Itapua, Paraguay with images. We are planning to publish formally a preliminary list of the species in the park at some stage along with preliminary seasonality data so for now we would be grateful if you would not put these records on your site until we publish the list. The plan for both Saturnids and Sphingids is to publish a preliminary list once we have a full year of records (which will be by March next year) and then to concentrate on breeding the species and adding to our seasonality data with a view to publishing more indepth work at a later date. Wed be very happy to invite you to co-author our Saturnid records and data if you were interested in doing so as you have been a very big help up until now!!!

After they are published of course you are more than welcome to use the images and records on the site. Quite a few of these I notice are new records for Itapua, and the first two moths are ones that I havent been able to identify - one looks like an Adelonaevia or something similar but is quite different, the other is a dull brown job. Are we right on our other IDs?
1 Dont know but unusual if boring! Almeidella corrupta ?
2 Adelonaevia type but very distinctive and doesnt appear to be amongst the ones I have listed for Paraguay. Syssphinx molina
3Hyperchiria incisa - is this correct? It is much smaller than our other specimens and has a yellow underwing! Hyperchiria incisa bicolor
4 Hyperchiria incisa - this is the typical form that is suddenly quite common, Hyperchiria incisa bicolor
5 Molippa cruenta - I notice on your site the disagreement over the identity of the specimens posted for Paraguay. What is the latest thinking on them? yes, Molippa cruenta
6 Hylesia metapyrrha - I think!
7 Adelowalkeria tristigma yes
8 Paradaemonia thelia yes
9 Periga circumstans, probably
10 Hylesia scortina, yes
11 Leucanella memusae; Leucanella memusae gardineri
12 Citheronula armata - on your website as a species of semi-arid areas, but apparently not strictly as it was quite common for a period and we are a humid forest! probably Citheronia brissottii
We also have further records of Arsenura dorbygniana and Automeris amoena, and first records for the park of Pseudautomeris luteata (though Ive had it in Tirol in Itapua so its not a first department record.)

Ok just looking at the Automeris and getting myself confused! Which of these photos if any are coresus and which are amoena?!! Obviously the Tirol one is grey and the San Rafael one is brown, and there are also underwign differences. The Tirol one appears to have the thin yellow line around the eyespot that would mean amoena presumably (it also looks very much like one of Ulfs photos from Paraguay) and the pupil is large. The faded specimen seems to share those characters but doesnt have the thin line around the eyespot (or at least it doesnt appear to - it may have once had it its in such a sorry state its hard to tell!). However the new browner one from San Rafael has a distinctly smaller pupil and no yellow line around the eyespot, so is that enough to make it coresus? In other words are they all amoena or are both species involved, and if both are here which one is the faded specimen? (my money is on amoena!) Also wondering whether the Adelonaevia with the black eyespot is just a nice looking variation on subangulata - though the difference is pretty eyecatching! Aaaaand forgot the other recent additional records of: Eacles imperialis Neocarnegia basiriei Copaxa decrescens Adelonaevia subangulata Oiticella luteciae Automeris naranja Gamelia catharina Best wishes Paul PS - Will send you an updated database of our seasonality records in the next couple of months, Saturnids are just starting to appear again by the bucket load so there will presumably be lots of changes in the meantime!