DISTRIBUTION:

The Citioica anthonilis moth, (wingspan: males: 52-80mm; females: 75-106mm), flies in
Brazil: Alagoas, Para, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Santa Catarina;
Mexico: Veracruz, Chiapas;
Belize: Cayo, Stann Creek, Toledo;
Guatemala: Zacapa;
(probably Honduras);
El Salvador: San Salvador;
Nicaragua: Zelaya;
Costa Rica: Heredia;
Panama: Bocas del Toro;
Venezuela: Carabobo, Aragua, Distrito Federal, Miranda, Monagas, Bolivar;
(probably Guyana; and
Suriname);
French Guiana: Territoire de I'Inini;
Colombia: Valle, Choco, Territoria Vasquez, Meta, Caqueta, and probably Amazonas and Putamayo;
Ecuador: Napo, Morona-Santiago and probably Orellana and Pastaza;
Peru: Junin, San Martin, Huanuco, Madre de Dios, Cuzco, Puno;
Bolivia: La Paz, Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, Chuquisaca; and
Paraguay UD: Canindeyu, Caaguazu, and probably Alto Parana, Caazapa and Itapua.

This species flies at low elevation.

Citioica anthonilis, September, 2006, Huanuco Province, Peru, courtesy of Juan Chavez.

In the male, the dark brown preapical pm line is straight except for a noticable turn toward the almost straight am line just before meeting the inner margin. The postmedian area is darker brown than basal and median areas. The outer margin is convex, and thin dark wing veins are noticeable. The basal and median areas are lighter grey-brown. The cell marking is a thin diffuse brown line.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Moths are on the wing in September and February. Citioica anthonilis larvae feed upon Robinia pseudoacacia and Salix capraea.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING: Citioica anthonilis male copyright Kirby Wolfe. Females exude a pheromone scent plume into the night sky. Males fly into the wind in a zigzag fashion and use their highly developed antennae to track the plume and locate the females. Males are considerably smaller than females.

Citioica anthonilis courtesy of Bernhard Wenczel.

EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:

Citioica anthonilis, third instar, courtesy/copyright Leroy Simon.

Citioica anthonilis, third instar, courtesy/copyright Leroy Simon.

Citioica anthonilis larva copyright Kirby Wolfe.

Citioica anthonilis larva copyright Franz Ziereis.

Citioica anthonilis Claude Lemaire, on my home computer only.

With regard to the differences between the Kirby Wolfe larval image and the Franz Ziereis image, which is very similar to Lemaire's image, Kirby writes, "When I sent Lemaire a photo of my Citioica anthonilis larva, he was extremely surprised, but neither he nor I were able to find any differences in the adults from his and my rearings. So are they different species? Who's to say? Based on the color of the larva? Larval color can be geographically variable in many species of saturniids. This, I believe, is just an extreme example. Or maybe they're different identical species?? Go figure."

I am just a neophyte compared to Kirby Wolfe and Claude Lemaire, but I would not be surprised to some day learn that the larvae are of different species. I have not seen larvae of any of the Oiticella (very different geographic range), but the moths seem quite similar. Kirby's image also reminds me of some of the Adeloneivaia and Syssphinx larvae, but larvae of many of the Ceratocampinae genera are similar.

It should be noted that Kirby's image is from Mexico.

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.

Robinia pseudoacacia..... Salix capraea

Black locust/false acacia Sallow/Goat willow

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