Napo Province, Ecuador

Located in northeastern Ecuador, just west of northwestern Peru and south of Colombia, Napo Province is host to many (approximately 200) Saturniidae species.

In the west there are breathtaking cloud forests sloping eastward to subtropical rain forests and paramo (grasslands). One of Ecuador's most beautiful snow-capped volcanoes, Antisana, is close to the province's western border with Pichincha.

Buses run regularly from Quito, Pichincha Province, to and from Tena, the provincial capital, and there has been much reporting of Saturniidae along the road from Quito to Tena.

This page is inspired by and dedicated to Luigi Racheli who sent me the publication "The Saturniidae fauna of Napo Province, Ecuador: an overview (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae)" SHILAP Revta. lepid. 34 (134), 2006: 125-139.

I have used Luigi's document, co-authored with T. Racheli, to update the list I had compiled by going through Lemaire's publications. Horst Kach has also made very significant contributions to the progress of this work, with data and numerous images.

As part of his conclusion, Luigi writes, "This provisional list of Saturniid moths for Napo Province must be viewed only as the frame for future investigations."

I have posted some species not included in Luigi's checklist, based on info from Horst Kach and my own interpolations/extrapolations. N.B.: Those species followed by my initials (WO) are not confirmed for Napo Province, but I think they have a good chance of being reported there.

Gamelia neidhoeferi female, Cosanga, Napo Province, Ecuador, courtesy of Horst Kach.

In 1998 the eastern half of Napo province was recognized as the new province of Orellana, but official maps showing the new province have not yet been produced. The new province of Orellana includes Yasuní National Park, an important area for botanical inventories. Similarly, in 1989 the province of Sucumbíos, which includes the botanically important Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve, was split off from Napo province.

Lemaire generally does not indicate Saturniidae species from Sucumbios province, and also does not report for Orellana. Species from those regions were designated by Lemaire as from Napo. The later reports by Racheli, Kach, and my own searches generally sorts out those from Lumbaqui in Sucumbios Province and the few located in the east in Orellana Province.