ACTIAS OF THE WORLD

Actias luna (summer female on sweetgum) courtesy of John H. Campbell.

TAXONOMY: Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802 Family: Saturniidae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834 Subfamily: Saturniinae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834 Tribe: Saturniini, Boisduval, [1837] 1834 Genus: Actias, Leach, 1815

MIDI MUSIC "Moon River" copyright C. Odenkirk MIDI CITY ON.OFF <bgsound src="moon.mid" LOOP=FOREVER>

This genus, also classified asTropaea (Hübner, 1816) and Graellsia (Grote, 1896) is comprised of approximately twenty species (now twenty-seven and counting, February 2008), two of which occur in the western Palaearctic, two or three in North America, and the rest in the eastern Palaearctic and Oriental regions (with recent discoveries in China).

Ylla, Peigler, Kawahara, in SHILAP, September, 2005, favour retaining Graellsia as a genus distinct from Actias.

Species of this genus are relatively large and are usually green as adults, adorned with long tails which do not cross while the moths are at rest. Both sexes have quadripectinate antennae, those of the male being slightly wider than those of the female. Discal eyespots occur on each wing.

Mature larvae are usually green, and larvae generally feed on resinous trees from the following families: Pinaceae, Hamamelidaceae, Anacardiaceae, Juglandaceae, Myrtaceae and Ebenaceae (Peigler, 1986).

Cocoons are single walled and irregular although generally ovoid in shape. They are spun up in a leaf wrap without a peduncle or among ground debris.

Some taxonomies elevate the selene subspecies to the species level.

Ylla, Peigler, Kawahara, in SHILAP, September, 2005, consider A. kongjiaria to be a synonym of A. neidhoeferi.

Listing of Actias, P indicates a picture is available.

P angulocaudata (Naumann & Bouyer, 1998) Hubei province, China
P artemis (Bremer et Grey, 1853), Japan, northeastern China, Korea, Russian Far East
P artemis aliena (Butler, 1879) Japan, China
P artemis yakushimaensis Kishida, 1994 Japan
N australovietnama Brechlin, 2000, southern Vietnam
P brevijuxta brevijuxta Nässig & Treadaway, 1997 elevated (2012) to full species status from A. selene brevijuxta Philippines
N brevijuxta brevinaensis Brechlin & Meister, 2012, Philippines: Mindanao
P callandra Jordan, 1911, Andaman Islands, India
P chapae chapae Mell, 1950, Vietnam, southeastern China
P chapae bezverkhovi Andrei V. Sochivko and Nicolai V. Ivshin southern Vietnam: Langbian Plateau
P chrisbrechlinae Brechlin, 2007, China
P dubernardi (Oberthur, 1897) southern China
P felicis arianeae Brechlin, 2007 assigned subspecies of felicis status, 2012 China
P felicis felicis (Oberthur, 1896) China
P gnoma gnoma (Butler, 1877) Japan
P gnoma mandschurica (Staudinger, 1892) Japan, northern China, North/South Korea, Russian Far East/ Siberia
P gnoma miyatai Inoue, 1976 Japan: Hachijojima, one of the Izu seven islands, situated 290km's South of Tokyo
P groenendaeli Roepke, 1954 Sumbawa, Flores, Sumba, Timor
N groenendaeli acutapex Kishida, 2000 Sumba Island, Indonesia
N groenendaeli sumbawaensis Pauklstadt & Rougerie, 2010 Sumbawa
P groenendaeli timorensis (U.Paukstadt, L.H. Paukstadt & Rougerie 2010) Timor
N guangxiana Brechlin & Meister, 2012, China: Guangxi
N ignescens Moore, 1877 Adaman Islands, India
P isabellae (Graells, 1849), Spain; Graellsia
P isis (Sonthonnax, 1899) Sulawesi Island, Indonesia
P <kongjiaria Chu et Wang, 1993 Sichuan, China
N laotiana Testout, 1936, Laos
P luna (Linnaeus, 1758), United States
P luna azteca Packard, 1869, Guatemala, Mexico
P <luna truncatipennis (Sonthannax, 1899), Mexico
P maenas Doubleday, 1847, Malaysia, Borneo, S. E. Asia
P maenas diana Maassen, [1872] Malaysia
P maenas saja Van Eecke, 1913 Java, Bali, Sumatra; Indonesia
P neidhoeferi Ong & Yu, 1968 Taiwan, eastern China
N ningpoana ninghainana Brechlin & Meister, 2012, China: Hainan
P ningpoana ningpoana C. Felder & R. Felder, 1862 eastern China, ?? northeastern Vietnam ??
N ningpoana ningtaibaishana Brechlin, 2013, China: Shaanxi
P ningpoana ningtaiwana Brechlin & Meister, 2012, Taiwan: Taoyuan
P parasinensis Brechlin, 2009 Bhutan, India, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam.
P philippinica philippinaca Nässig & Treadaway, 1997, Philippines
P philippinica bulbosa Nässig & Treadaway, 1997, Philippines
P rhodopneuma Röber, 1925, southeastern Asia
P seitzi pahangensis Brechlin & Meister, 2012, Malaysia: Pahang: Cameron Highlands: Tana Ratah
P seitzi seitzi Kalis, 1934 ; elevated (2012) to full species satus from selene seitzi Java
A. miae, Toxopeus, 1944, is a synonym of A. seitzi
A. vandenberghi, Roepke, 1956, is a synonym (2012) of seitzi Sumatra
P seitzi sinjaevorum Brechlin & Meister, 2012, Borneo: Sabah: Daerah Tongot
P selene (Hubner, "1806" [1807]), India and S. E. Asia
P selene eberti Rougeot, 1969, Pakistan, Afghanistan
P selene malaisei Bryk, 1944 Myanmar = Burma
P selene taprobanus U & L H Paukstadt, 1999, Sri Lanka
P shaanxiana Brechlin, 2007 elevated (2012) to full species status from A. kongjiaria shaanxiana Shaanxi, China
P sinensis (Walker, 1855), India (Assam), China and Laos and Vietnam; probably parasinensis in India, Laos and Vietnam
P sinensis heterogyna (Mell), Ron Brechlin, 2009, indicates no difference between nominate sinensis and subspecies heterogyna China
P sinensis subaurea Kishida, 1993 Taiwan, S. mainland China heterogyna is a synonym of sinensis; thus heterogyna subaurea should be sinensis subaurea
P sjoeqvisti Bryk 1948 Russia previously treated as subspecies of artemis; now with full species status (MF)
P uljanae Brechlin, 2007 China
N vanschaycki Brechlin, 2013, China: Sichuan
P vivian (unpublished-undescribed), China; now A. chrisbrechlinae Brechlin 2007
P winbrechlini Brechlin, 2007, China
P witti Brechlin, 2007, Little Adamans, India

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On my home computer only Saturniidae of Bhutan in English from ENTOMO-SATSPHINGIA 2 (1): 47 – 55 (March 2009); hard copies can be ordered via Frank Meister as per link to the left/above.

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Actias felicis Group:

felicis felicis
felicis arianae
uljanae
chrisbrechlinae
winbrechlini
neidhoeferi
kongjiaria
vanschaycki
shaanxiana