Venezuela: Gamelia Comparison Plate

I (Bill Oehlke) frequently am asked for id help, or I try to help with determination of a specimen in a digital image where the moth is at rest and the lower wings are obscured.

Some species are so similar in appearance that even when the hindwings are in view, it is almost impossible to come up with a positive determination. In such cases I can usually only offer an opinion that it could be any of either just a couple of species or sometimes a few species.

Whenever possible, I try to ascertain two important pieces of information for the moth in question: 1) precise geographic location and 2) elevation. If the photographer does not know the elevation, I try to locate that info via a Google search.

I have arranged the following comparison table to take advantage of items 1 and 2, so one's search can be reduced to those species encompassed by such data. Only known Venezuelan species are reported, some of which seem to be western, eastern or coastal.

Hopefully some visibly physical features of the moth will allow for further reducation of possibilities as per the notes accompanying each entry.

Wing features that I look at carefully are overall shape of wings, contrast and general colouration, cell and line markings (shape and position), colour of thorax.

If you happen to be a photographer, it is often very helpful to also have images of the ventral wing surface. I am very happy to receive and display your high quality images, credited as you wish, on this website. Images can be sent as email attachments to Bill Oehlke at oehlkew@islandtelecom.com

With the advent of DNA barcoding in 2008 many (hundreds, possibly over a thousand) new Saturniidae species have been described worldwide, including G. rindguayana and G. tamarae from Venezuela. Possibly those newer species may replace older known, very similar species which were erroneously reported from Venezuela. I feel (am not certain) that may be the case with Gamelia rindgei and Gamelia pyrrhomelas which may be eastern and western Andean species.

Please note: The descriptions posted below are for males of each species. I hope to someday prepare a similar chart for the females which are often quite different from the males. In most cases I have focused on forewing appearance as I sometimes get asked to id moths that are alive and resting, with hind wings hidden.

The numbers preceding "mm" indicate the length of the male forewing from body to apex, as determined by measuring, in most cases, a number of speciemens.

abasia: French Guiana courtesy of J.L. Giuglaris I believe this image is more representative of true abasia in the Guyana-Amazon Rain Forest Region. There are now quite a few very similar species recognized in eastern and western Andean Regions, possibly replacing abasia in those regions. abasia: Neotype: Suriname Fw pm line much more convex and further removed from outer margin than in rindguayana or rindgei. Fw cell is circular; larger than in rindguayana Lower third of basal area considerably brighter red-orange-brown than darker brown upper 2/3s. Hw median band is not so dramatically curved back toward the body as it approaches the costa; in rindgei and rindguayana the curve approaches a right angle rindguayana: 28-31mm; low elevation 80-290m; HT French Guiana; northwestern Brazil: Amazonas: Manaus; eastern Venezuela: Bolivar tends to be slightly smaller than East Andean G. rindge (29-35mm) Red centered, double ringed fw cell smaller, more circular than in rindgei; only slightly oblong with longer axis perpendicular to costa orangey-brown gc; dark grey-black apical patch rindgei: 29-35mm; ? questionable in Venezuela ?. Lemaire (2002) had indicated a presence in Bolivar, Venezuela, before rindguayana was described, and it is more likely that rindgei is a low elevation Pre-Andean species limited to HT Peru: Junin, Bolivia and Ecuador. I have not seen images of "rindgei" from Maranhao or Bahia, which are also listed by Lemaire. Larger fw ocellus, compared to ringuayana, is oblong, with long line axis approximately 45 degrees to costa. Note more oblique course of pm line in rindguayana & rindgei compared to abasia. rubriluna: 32-37mm. The forewing cell mark is very tiny and dark red, often indistinct in any but the clearest photos of fresh specimens. In the quite similar lichyi, once considered a subspecies of rubriluna, the cell spot is a more contrasting orange-yellow. Venezuela: Bolivar; Zulia; Ecuador: Napo; Morona Santiago; Peru: San Martin; Loreto; Bolivia: La Paz; Brazil: Amazonas; Mato Grosso lichyi: 30-33mm. The forewing cell mark is orange-yellow, showing more contrast than the smaller dark red cell spot on rubriluna. Note very orange pm line and large orange apical patch inside the pm line. As of Lemaire's writings in Hemileucinae, 2002, rubriluna and lichyi were not sympatric. Northern central and southwestern ranges of Venezuela: Miranda, Distrito Federal, Aragua, Carabobo, Lara, Merida, Tachira, probably Trujillo and Yaracuy. tamarae: 34mm; 750m. Venezuela: Merida: Altamira; sympatric with and similar to Gamelia lichyi in Merida, Venezuela slightly larger than lichyi with forewing pm line straight to slightly concave very small red-orange-yellow fw cell dot ringed in black and encased in an outer, dark olive-grey-green ring orangey-yellow preapical bar not as wide as in lichyi hindwing iris with slight pinkish tint pyrrhomelas: ? questionable in Venezuela? Lemaire (2002) indicates a "disjunct" range sighting of pyrrhomelas in Barinas, Venezuela (1500m). That was before the very similar G. tamarae was described from nearby Merida. I suspect pyrrhomelas (HT Santa Fe, Bogota, Colombia) is limited to west Andean slopes at elevations of 1600-2800m in Colombia and Ecuador, and the disjunct specimen from Barinas, Venezuela, referred to by Lemaire is probably tamarae, lichyi or something undescribed.

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You can access similar Gamelia comparison plates/tables for other countries via the links at the bottom of the Gamelia Genus page.