DISTRIBUTION:

Automeris zozinicaraguana (wingspan: males: 87mm; females: mm // forewing length: males: 37-40mm; females:) flies in
Nicaragua: Jinotega: El Gobiado, collected by Pierre Schmit, 2006-09-15/16; and probably in Santa Maura, Jinotega, Nicaragua (JMM), if my identifications are correct.

The male forewing apex is very produced, and the fw pm line is concave. The concolorous basal and median areas are quite dark with the cell mark scarcely visible. The fw outer margin is even more oblique in the ESS image than in the one posted above, and the ESS image shows an outward white tracing (missing in the image above) of the pm line. None-the-less, the image form Santa Maura is a better match for Automeris zozinicaraguana than for other possibilities. The fw post median area is much lighter than the inner regions.

The yellow surrounding the hindwing ocellus is very close to a circular ring of even width around the entire ocellus.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Specimens have been taken in Nicaragua in September (Mirror) and JMM.

Automeris zozinicaraguana? female, Cerro Kilambe, Jinotega, Nicaragua,
April 2000, 1150m, courtesy of Jean-Michael Maes,
tentative id and slight digital repair by Bill Oehlke

The female is unknown according to ESS 2010, but the female depicted above has a forewing apex more produced than the know females of zoziboucardi and zozimanaguana, and the hindwing ocellus is also larger than shown in the images in ESS. There seems to be more consistency with the male A. zozinicaraguana so I have tentatively identified the female above.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Males use their more highly developed antennae to seek out females who release an airbourne pheromone into the night sky.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Eggs are deposited in clusters of 6-40+ on hostplant twigs. Larvae have urticating spines and are gregarious, especially in the early instars.

The species name is indicative of a specimen very similar to Automeris zozine, with a specimen type in Jinotega, Nicaragua.

Larval Food Plants

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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