Bunaea caffraria, is equated with Bunaea alcinoe in Bouyer's 1999 Catalogue. B. caffra and many others are also equated with B. alcinoe.

Philippe Darge recognizes caffraria as a valid subspecies of Bunaea alcinoe.

Of Bunaea alcinoe, Rolf Oberprieler writes, "One could denote the southern form (as on your pic) as “subspecies” B. alcinoe caffra Huebner, 1819. Not caffraria Stoll, 1790, which is a junior primary homonym and NOT an available name."

See additional notes at bottom of this page.

Bunaea caffra (male), Congo, courtesy of Eric van Schayck.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

The African Emperor adults emerge in the spring, often after a warm rain.

Bunaea caffra larvae feed on Celtis, Croton, Cussonia, Ekebergia, Maesa, Terminalia, Gymnosporia and many other foods, including privet, plum and hawthorn in captivity.

The Cabbage tree emperor moth, Bunaea alcinoe, derives its common name from the fact that its caterpillars have a preference for cabbage trees (Cussonia), where they can be found during December. Bunaea alcinoe caffra male and Epiphora magdalena male, Kilimanjaro's lower montane forest at 1800m, courtesy of David Bygott. ID by Philippe Darge. ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING: This species emerges at dusk and females attract the night flying males with an airbourne pheromone. The pair remains coupled for a relatively short time. Females have thinner and blacker antennae and their abdomens are much broader and forewings are more rounded than in males. EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE: Eggs are large, round, and cream coloured, and have a deep indentation at the micropyle. Larvae prefer fresh food and a warm, humid atmosphere. In the final instar, airy conditions are preferred. When larvae are disturbed they will lash their heads and front segments violently back and forth. Rough, black pupae are formed deep (10-15 cm) underground. Under artificial conditions pupae will emerge after being kept moist following immersion in tepid water. Bunaea alcinoe caffra Tanzania, courtesy of David Bygott. The question of subspecies and differences in larval colouration. Rolf Oberprieler recently wrote, "The larva of Bunaea alcinoe does indeed come in two rather distinct colour forms. In West and Central Africa it is mostly brick-red with yellow spines (except the first two pairs, the thoracic ones, which are black), and in southern and eastern Africa it is entirely black with white spines (again except the black thoracic ones). The S-E African form is very constant, i.e. always completely jet-black, but the W-C African form can also be black instead of red, although the spines always seem to be yellow, never white. There are colour illustrations of both types in the literature, but I would have to comb through my literature to find the best or first in both cases. The red W-C form is figured in colour i.a. by Rougeot (1955, fig. 13 – not very good), and Paul Latham in his recent booklet on the edible caterpillars of Bas-Congo gives a nice photo of the black W-C form (on p. 12) and also one with both forms together (p. 3). Boorman (1970) in his booklet on the emperor moths of Nigeria also said that there are these 2 colour forms in Nigeria (the black one app. having black spines – I’ve not seen this confirmed, though). His fig. (plate 2) is only black-and-white but seems to represent the black form. "I may have the book Howard mentions as containing a description of larva in Nigeria, but it’s not one of the well-known ones and I can’t find it in a hurry. At first I thought it may have been Packard (1914), who covered different fauna’s together and used old names like Caligula, but the page numbers don’t match. Would appreciate if you could get me the author so that I can check. "Regarding the taxonomy and nomenclature of the species, one CAN’T use the name caffraria for the W-C African form (“subspecies”) of B. alcinoe. Firstly because caffraria, established by Stoll (1790) as Phalaena (Attacus) caffraria, is a junior primary homonym of Phalaena caffraria Linnaeus, 1767 in Geometridae and thus NOT an available name in Saturniidae. Its replacement name is caffra Huebner, 1819. Secondly because Stoll’s name was actually erected for the southern African form, not the W-C African one, so if you recognise such subspecies in B. alcinoe, caffra can only apply to a southern (or south-eastern) one. "But, as I wrote the other day, such a division of B. alcinoe into subspecies is problematic also for other reasons. Firstly, it is difficult to distinguish (separate) a possible W-C and S-E form (“race”, “subspecies”) because there don’t appear to be clear-cut differences and a clear geographical division between such forms. In theory this might occur on the eastern border of the Central African rainforests, but it seems no-one has investigated this in detail yet. Secondly, we can’t be certain to which population the name alcinoe really applies, as already Stoll didn’t know where the type specimen came from, and his illustration is not clear enough either. If alcinoe was described from somewhere in West Africa, this would be the valid name for any W-C form or “subspecies”, and caffra the valid name for a S-E form. However, if the type specimen of alcinoe actually also came from southern (or eastern) Africa, the S-E form would carry the name alcinoe (with caffra its synonym), and the W-C form would take the next-oldest name established for it. Oberthuer (1910) investigated this issue in the past but didn’t resolve it, and I’m not sure whether anyone since has found Stoll’s type and re-interpreted it. "If alcinoe is not referable to the W-C form, working out this next-oldest name is again a thorny issue. The oldest names clearly assignable to the W-C form would be one of Dufrane’s (alberici, atlantica, katangensis), all described in 1953 from Zaire. However, there are also Rothschild’s tricolor from Ethiopia (1895), Oberthuer’s alcinoina from Mpala in Tanzania (1910) and Jordan’s nubica from Sudan (1910), and one would first have to sort out whether these populations belong to the W-C or the S-E form. There’s also punctigera Wallengren, 1860, for which we also have no type locality and thus no clear evidence of where it is from. The last 5 available species-group names are mostly from southern Africa and all referable to the S-E form. All in all quite a mess, as you can see. The best option for the time being (April 2005) is therefore not to attempt any division into subspecies and just refer to the species as Bunaea alcinoe wherever it occurs. Just forget about caffraria and caffra and all this subspecific stuff. Except for Madagascar that is, the species there (B. aslauga) is different. "Hope this clarifies things. It’s a rather convoluted affair, unfortunately." Rolf had written in response to email I shared from Howard Romack: Howard's Email: "Hi Bill, I collected caterpillars- brick orange in color with black spines- several years ago while collecting in Liberia. I was there for six weeks, and many of the moths and other arthropods were difficult to classify, but I managed to obtain a few pupae from these large, polyphemus-sized larvae. Eventually the adults emerged, and with the help of specialists, discovered that the moths were B. a. caffraria. The larva you pictured (#6 on another site) is nothing like those, and there were hundreds of them tumbling out of the trees, (a trait that these big caterpillars do preceeding burrowing into the ground) that I found in Liberia. I might also tell you that I have one bilateral gynandromorph of this moth that, after soaking the pupa in warm water, finally emerged among the others." Howard also reports a "book" in which he found the "description of the larva, from Nigeria, of B. a. caffraria Stoll (= caffra Hubner = Nytalops Wallengren =Derbania Oberthur) The Nigerian larva changes color to "brick-red" in the third instar.... This moth is a spectacular creature- it emerged here at home in an aquarium after I submerged the pupae in a sink of warm water. They are truly armor plated, and obiously won't emerge until the next rainy season following pupation. Oftentimes, heavy rains wash them out in windrows! The adults were very common at our collecting lights over there." I will post any additional information that becomes available. I have also added these comments to the Bunaea alcinoe caffra file. Thanks to both Howard and Rolf for shared information. Larval Food Plants Listed below are primary food plant(s) 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. Bauhinia reticulata Cassonia spicata Celtis Crataegus Croton Ekebergia meyeri Ekebergia ruepellii Gymnosporia senegalensis..... Harpephyllum caffrum Khaya senegalensis Ligustrum Maesa lanceolata Prunus Pyrus malus Quercus robar Rhus glabra Terminalia catappa Kanchan Cassonia Hackberry Hawthorn Croton Ekebergia Ekebergia Gymnosporia Kaffir plum Red mahogany Privet Maesa Cherry Apple English oak Smooth sumac Indian almond Use your browser "Back" button to return to the previous page. Return to Bunaea Index Return to Main Index