Aurivillius xerophilus

Aurivillius xerophilus
Rougeot, 1977

Aurivillius xerophilus male, courtesy of Teemu Klemetti.

Aurivillius xerophilus male, Senegal,
courtesy of Alain Coache, id by Thierry Bouyer.

Aurivillius xerophilus?? male, Senegal,
courtesy of Alain Coache.

This site has been created by Bill Oehlke at oehlkew@islandtelcom.com
Comments, suggestions and/or additional information are welcomed by Bill.

TAXONOMY:

Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802
Family: Saturniidae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834
Subfamily: Saturniinae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834
Tribe: Bunaeini, Packard, 1902
Genus: Aurivillius, Packard, 1902

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DISTRIBUTION:

Aurivillius xerophilus flies in
the Central African Republic;
Cameroon;
Tanzania and in
Kenya. Rodolphe Rougerie reports it in
Burkina Faso. Alain Coache reports it in Senegal.

Aurivillius xerophilus Gambia, courtesy of Dr. Linda K. Barnett.

T. Bouyer, 1995 equates triramis cliftoni with xerophilus.

Rodolphe Rougerie writes, "There are some differences in wing pattern/shape/colouration between xerophilus/jolyanorum, but the most useful feature when you have both species at hand is the size of the antennae, the ones of jolyanorum are much bigger."

Aurivillius xerophilus?? male, Burkina Faso, courtesy of Rodolphe Rougerie.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Aurivillius xerophilus moths fly in ??

Larvae probably feed on Silk tree (Albizia).

Aurivillius xerophilus female, Burkina Faso, courtesy of Rodolphe Rougerie.

Aurivillius xerophilus female, Senegal,
courtesy of Alain Coache.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Females scent and attract males at night by releasing an airbourne pheromone. Males fly in a zigzag pattern into the wind to pick up the pheromone plume with their antennae. Both sexes come to lights with males most common around midnight.

EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:

Eggs are a translucent yellow and are deposited in groups of 6-10 on foodplant leaves.

Mature larvae descend tree trunks to pupate in subterranean chambers.

Larval Food Plants


Listed below are primary food plant and possible alternate food plants. The list is not exhaustive. Experimenting with closely related foodplants is worthwhile.

Albizia.......

Silktree

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