DISTRIBUTION:

Arsenura orbignyana (wingspan: males: 88-121mm; females: 92-115mm // forewing length: males: 60.4-62mm; females: 64.8mm) flies in
eastern Bolivia: Santa Cruz: Chiquitos; Chuquisaca??;
southern Brazil: Goias, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, Parana, Sao Paulo, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul;
Paraguay: Itapua AE; and
Argentina: Misiones: Dos de Mayo (RF), at elevations around 900m.

With the new description (2010) of Arsenura paraorbignyana from Paraguay, there is strong possibility that some of the specimens listed as A. orbignyana on this page are actually A. paraorbignyana, but I think I have moved them to proper new locations. The larvae and the adult image shown by Kirby Wolfe, are noticeably different from those from other breeders/collectors. I suspect the specimens from Paraguay and Argentina are more likely paraorbignyana.

The lectotype of orbignyana is from "Bolivia, Province de Chiquitos, Santa Corazon (d'Orbigny)" according to Lemaire.

Orbignyana Groupe

Arsenura orbignyana

Arsenura paraorbignyana

Longitudinal line of forewing cell perpendicular to costa in both orbignyana and paraorbignyana. Hindwing marginal markings browner/larger in orbinyana; greyer/smaller in paraorbignyana Hindwing marginal area with more white in paraorbignyana

Arsenura angulatus

Arsenura xanthopus

Longitudinal line of fw cell not perpendicular to costa; cell mark lower-end angled more toward body Xanthopus has yellow legs, greyer, darker ground colour, practically devoid of white in in submarginal/marginal area; fw apex slightly produced

Those specimens from southeastern Brazil, listed by Lemaire as orbignyana, may actually represent a different species (probably angulatus), and there may actually be several species/subspecies in different areas of southeastern Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay.

A. angulatus Bouvier, 1924, formerly a synonym of A. orbignyana is now, 2010, Brechlin & Meister, recognized as a distinct species. Larry Valentine has shown that xanthopus and angulatus are sympatric in southeastern Minas Gerais.

Arsenura orbignyana male, Chuquisaca, Bolivia,
courtesy of Thibaud Decaens.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

This species flies during the early part of the rainy season in January-February, May, September-October-November, suggesting at least two or three annual broods.

Arsenura orbignyana male, Santa Catarina, Brazil,
1997, courtesy/copyright of Hubert Mayer.

Eurides Furtado has reared them on Luehea paniculata in Mato Grosso.

Kirby Wolfe reports them accepting Chorisia, but doing better on Brachychiton. Reinhard Foerster reports success in Misiones Province, Argentina, on Luehea divaricata, known locally as azota caballo. These larvae from Argentina would probably be Arsenura paraorbignyana.

Arsenura orbignyana female, Chuquisaca, Bolivia,
courtesy of Thibaud Decaens.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Males use their antennae to seek out females which scent at night.

EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:

The larvae of the Arsenura genus do not spin cocoons. Instead the large larvae, up to 120 mm in length, excavate subterranean chambers in which to pupate.

Arsenura orbignyana, copyright protected, courtesy of Kirby Wolfe.

I asked Kirby if his larvae displayed the long thoracic scoli in the early instars, and he wrote back, "All species of Arsenurinae I have reared have had long thoracic scoli through at least the 4th instar, and several into the last instar. I enclose a scan of my 3rd instar larva of orbignyana. The color of Eurides Furtado's larva is very interesting and different from mine! But differences in larval color over a species' geographic range are not uncommon."

Arsenura orbignyana, third instar, courtesy of Kirby Wolfe.

Larval Food Plants

Listed below are primary food plant(s) and alternate food plants as per personal communication (Eurides Furtado, Kirby Wolfe). It is hoped that this alphabetical listing followed by the common name of the foodplant will prove useful. The list is not exhaustive. Experimenting with closely related foodplants is worthwhile.

Brachychiton Chorisia Luehea divaricata Luehea paniculata.......

Flame Tree Silk Floss Tree azota caballo Açoita-cavalo

The pronunciation of scientific names is troublesome for many. The "suggestion" at the top of the page is merely a suggestion. It is based on commonly accepted English pronunciation of Greek names and/or some fairly well accepted "rules" for latinized scientific names.

The suggested pronunciations, on this page and on other pages, are primarily put forward to assist those who hear with internal ears as they read.

There are many collectors from different countries whose intonations and accents would be different.

Some of the early describers/namers chose genus and species names indicating some character of the insect, but more often, they simply chose names from Greek or Roman mythology or history.

Those species names which end in "ensis" indicate a specimen locale, and those which end in "i", pronounced "eye", honoura contempory friend/collector/etc.

I do not know the source of the genus name "Arsenura" chosen by Duncan in 1841.

The species name "orbignyana" is probably honourific for the Bolivian location of d'Orbigny, named for the French naturalist, Alcide Charles Victor Marie Dessalines d'Orbigny.

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