ARSENURA OF THE WORLD

Arsenura fuscata male, Indiana, Loreto, Peru,
February 20, 2011, courtesy of Dominik Hofer, id by Bill Oehlke

TAXONOMY:

Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802
Family; Saturniidae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834
Subfamily: Arsenurinae, Jordan 1922
Tribe: Arsenurini, Jordan, 1922
Genus: Arsenura Duncan, 1841

The Arsenurini are a primitive tribe of very large moths (wingspans: most 150-200 mm) found in tropical South and Central America. All of them dwell in rain forests except for the montane species, Arsenura cymonia, which flies at altitudes above 1500 m. and Arsenura armida porioni which flies in the semiarid regions of southwestern Ecuador.

Wingspan and range have been adjusted (November 2003) to reflect information in Lemaire's Arsenurinae 1980. Information about range extensions (e.g. Arsenura sylla niepelti, Nicaragua and Costa Rica) has been incorporated when descriptions seem to fit.

In most cases I have only guessed at flight times, based on some information in Vladimir Izersky's Saturniidae of Peru, which may not be terribly accurate in some cases.

Many thanks to photographers Leroy Simon, Alain Van Vyve, Chris Conlan, Kirby Wolfe, Carlos Mielke, Thibaud Decaens, Carlot Didier, Eurides Furtado, Kelly Price, Dan Janzen, Jean Louis Giuglaris, Angelo Santin, Charles DeRoller, Vladimir V. Izersky, Rodolphe Rougerie, Carlot Didier, Bernhard Wenczel/Viktor Suter, Bernhard Jost and Jean-Michel Maes.

Taxonomies have been checked against J.B. Heppner's Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera Checklist: Part 4B.

In November, 2010, Frederic Beneluz sent me the following notes on the Arsenurinae:

Pages of ARSENURINAE of French Guiana:
A. armida is just A. armida with no subspecies designatedd (former ssp. archianassa is now at specific level, Lemaire, 1996).
Arsenura, ? from Cuzco, is a low white-spoted A. albopicta.
Arsenura beebei ? (T. Decaëns) is for me A. ciocolatina, same remark for the ?.
A. beebei (Entomoservice) is A. armida.
A. giuglarisi Bénéluz, 2009, not Schaus, 1906.
A. batesii: the FG population is not arcaei, not batesii but an intermediate population.
A. sylla niepelti is the correct name for the population of sylla from Costa Rica & Nicaragua as you know, but it’s true that they are somewhat different from those of Colombia.
Do you know its occurrence in Panamá?
Paradaemonia gravis ? (D. Carlot) is a ? of Paradaemonia platydesmia.

Pages of ARSENURINAE of the World in relation with French Guiana:
A. armida armida is just A. armida (with former ssp. archianassa being at specific level, Lemaire, 1996, and archianassa in western South America, not in F.G.).
A. batesii batesii (D. Janzen): a true arcaei.
A. batesii batesii (V. Izersky): a true batesii.
A. batesii ? (T. Decaëns): please note batesii. A true A. b. arcaei.
A. batesii batesii ? (La Paz): it might be A. b. arcaei, the Bolivian populations (between others) are somewhat delicate to determine…(Lemaire, 1980 and pers. communications).
T. tamerlan tamerlan: the ? (A. Santin) seems T. tamerlan amazonensis.

I have now incorporated these corrections/opinions into respective files and have moved images to correct locations.

In January 2012 I have updated list to include many new species described 2010-2011, based largely on DNA barcode analysis, and have used Global Mirror data base to post locations. I have paid Frank Meister for Entomo-Satsphingia journals, and am awaiting their arrival. I will not post photos from the journals but will use the images in the journals to relocate some of the species already posted on WLSS under previously described names, and will use the journals to write my own descriptions and identify and post new submissions to WLSS in correct locations.

Many thanks to those who provide images, data and/or voluntary contributions which very much help me to "almost" keep up with the many changes that are taking place.

Larvae, which in later instars lack the protuberances (scoli) of most other Saturniidae species, are large (120 mm), smooth-skinned, cylindrical and thick and pupate in subterranean chambers.

Arsenura orbignyana, copyright protected, courtesy of Kirby Wolfe.

P indicates a photograph is available. The first country listed is the type locality.

In order to help myself with determinations, I have now arranged the species below into the Groupe designations utilized by Lemaire, 1980, and I have entered some notes as per ESs journals.

Listing of Arsenura

Armida Groupe:

P albopicta Jordan, 1922 Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, French Guiana, Colombia, (Ecuador, Peru, e of the Andes); possibly Guyana and Suriname
P arianae Brechlin & Meister 2010 Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, northern Costa Rica replaces armida in Central America
P armida (Cramer, 1779) Suriname, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru (eastern slopes), French Guiana, Guyana, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay
cassandra Cramer, 1779 Suriname, is same as armida
P archianassa archianassa Draudt, 1930 western Colombia, Costa Rica: Cartago ??, western Ecuador; western Colombia, western Ecuador, possibly Costa Rica
P archianassa porioni Lemaire, 1980 southwestern Ecuador
P beebei (Fleming, 1945) Venezuela, eastern Colombia, Trinidad, Guyana, French Guiana, Brazil, probably Suriname
P ciocolatina Draudt, 1930 Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia
P delormei Bouvier, 1929 Peru, Bolivia
P fuscata Brechlin & Meister 2010 Bolivia, Peru; probably just northern Peru: Amazonas; San Martin; and northwestern Bolivia: La Paz, maybe Beni
P giuglarisi Beneluz, 2009 French Guiana
P mossi Jordan, 1922 Brazil, Guyana, e. side of Andes in Ecuador, Peru
P polyodonta (Jordan, 1911) Mexico
P rebeli Gschwandner, 1920 Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia
oweni Schaus, 1921, Ecuador, is same as rebeli

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Biundulata Groupe:

P aspasia (Herrich Schaeffer, [1853]) southeastern Brazil
P biundulata Schaus, 1906 southeastern Brazil

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Meander Groupe:

P meander (Walker, 1855) central Brazil
P pandora (Klug, 1836) central Brazil
P jennettae Wolfe, Conlan & Kelly, 2000 central Bolivia

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Sylla Groupe:

P sylla sylla (Cramer, 1779) Suriname, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia
P sylla pelias Jordan, 1911 Brazil, same as sylla sylla
N sylla maranhensis Brechlin & Meister 2013 Brazil: Maranhao
P sylla niepelti (Schussler, 1936) Colombia, ? Costa Rica, ? Nicaragua
P sylla hercules (Walker, 1855) southeastern Brazil
P sylla winbrechlini Brechlin & Meister 2010 Bolivia
P thomsoni Schaus, 1906 Guyana, French Guiana, Venezuela
P thomsoni lemairei Racheli & Racheli, 1998 Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil

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Orbignyana Groupe:

P orbignyana (Guerin-Meneville, [1844]) Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay
P angulatus Bouvier, 1924, Brazil, recognized as distinct from orbignyana by Brechlin & Meister 2010
P paraorbignyana Brechlin & Meister 2010 Paraguay, Argentina
P xanthopus (Walker, 1855) Brazil, Paraguay ?
alcmene Draudt, 1930, Brazil, is same as xanthopus

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Batesii Groupe:

P batesii batesii (Felder and Rogenhafer, 1874) Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia
P batesii arcaei Druce, 1886 Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Suriname, French Guiana, probably Guyana
P batesii aurantiaca Lemaire, 1976 eastern Ecuador
N batesii gadoui Lemaire, 1980 Bolivar, Venezuela possibly synonymized???
P drucei Schaus, 1906 Panama, Costa Rica
P ponderosa ponderosa, W. Rothschild, 1907 Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil
P ponderosa guianensis (W. Rothschild, 1907) Guyana, French Guiana
P ponderosa yungasensis Brechlin & Meister 2010 Bolivia

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Cymonia Groupe:

N altocymonia Brechlin & Meister 2010 Peru, high altitude
N amacymonia Brechlin & Meister 2010 Peru: Amazonas
P centrocymonia Brechlin & Meister 2010 Peru: Junin, Pasco, Huanuco
P cymonia (W. Rothschild, 1907) Peru: Cusco, Madre de Dios, Puno
P kaechi Brechlin & Meister 2010 Ecuador: Napo, Pastaza, Morona-Santiago, Tunguragua
N peggyae Brechlin & Meister 2013 Peru: Cajamarca
P yungascymonia Brechlin & Meister 2010 Bolivia

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