DISTRIBUTION:

Antheraea mexicana (wingspan approx. 139-170mm) flies in
Guatemala and
Mexico:
Puebla: Huauchinango: Huauchinango (1520m); Zacapoaxtla: Apulco;
Tamaulipas: Victoria: Cumbres de Ciudad Victoria;
Nuevo León: Santiago: Cola de Caballo, Santiago (640m); Santiago: Potrero Redondo, Santiago, Monterrey (1340m);
Michoacán: Uruapan: Uruapan (1620m);
Guerrero: Chilpancingo de los Bravo: Acahuizotla;
Veracruz: Naolinco: Naolinco (1540m);
Chiapas, Oaxaca (MB).

Antheraea mexicana male, Oaxaca, Mexico,
courtesy of Athanasios Mpamnaras.

Scaling around the hindwing ocellus is heavy and black, but there is little black scaling in the forewing cell.

Antheraea mexicana male, Sierra Madre Orientalis, Tamaulipas, Mexico,
September 10, 2008, courtesy of John Kamps.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

This species probably broods continuously. John Kamps confirms a September flight in Tamaulipas, Mexico.

Antheraea mexicana male, Sierra Madre Orientalis, Tamaulipas, Mexico,
September 10, 2008, courtesy of John Kamps.

Antheraea mexicana male (verso), Oaxaca, Mexico,
July 19, 2006, courtesy of Mike Buczkowski.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Males use highly developed antennae to detect female scent which is distributed into the wind. Males fly into the wind in a zigzag pattern to detect the pheromone and subsequently locate the female.

Antheraea polyphemus mexicana male, courtesy of Manuel Balcazar-Lara

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Listed below are 1)the primary food plant(s) used by myself (listed first); and 2) preferred and alternate food plants listed in Stephen E. Stone's Foodplants of World Saturniidae. 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.

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