DISTRIBUTION:

Copiopteryx semiramis (forewing wingspan: males: 89-113mm; females: 94-114mm) flies, as a number of subspecies, in
Suriname;
Venezuela: Bolivar and probably Amazonas;
Guyana;
French Guiana: Saint-Jean-du-Maroni, Kaw;
Brazil: Amapa, Amazonas, Mato Grosso;
Colombia: Choco, Valle del Cauca, Cundinamarca, Meta, Caqueta and probably Cauca, Nariono and Putamayo (western slopes, higher altitude = semiramis andensis; eastern slopes, lower altitude=semiramis semiramis);
Ecuador: Sucumbios, Napo, Orellana, Morona-Santiago (all LTR); and
Peru: Amazonas, Huanuco, Ucayali (VI) and probably San Martin, in habitats with elevations between 100m and 650m.

Nominate semiramis has a grayish rather than purplish virgo thoracic collar.

Copiopteryx semiramis semiramis male, Ecuador, courtesy of Hubert Mayer copyright.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

FGS reports a flight in November. I suspect there are additional flights. Vladimir Izersky reports a flight in late October-early November in Atalaya, Ucayali, Peru, at 350m. Vladimir indicates this species prefers free (open) spaces while C. jehovah, which flies in the same location, prefers the "intensity of the forest".

Copiopteryx semiramis male, Atalaya, Ucayali, Peru,
350m, October 31, 2008, courtesy of Vladimir Izersky.

Copiopteryx semiramis male, Atalaya, Ucayali, Peru,
350m, November 2, 2008, courtesy of Vladimir Izersky.

Copiopteryx semiramis flies late at night and larvae feed on Manilkara chicle (Sapodilla). Acanthosyris spinescens and Pouteria caimito have also been reported as hosts.

There appear to be at least two broods with most moths on the wing in June-July and then again in October-November.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Females have much shorter hind wing tails than males do, and emit a pheromone at night to "call" in the males.

Copiopteryx semiramis female copyright Kirby Wolfe

Copiopteryx semiramis female (French Guiana) courtesy of Carlot Didier.

EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:

Eggs are yellowish white, sometimes almost translucent with red banding that enlarges as eggs mature. Early instar larvae are spiny and hatch from eggs after approximately fourteen days of development.

Tiny larvae feed on leaf tips from underside veins.

Pupation is in early (pre-dawn) morning in subterranean chambers.

Copiopteryx semiramis larva copyright Kirby Wolfe

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.

Acanthosyris spinescens....... Manilkara chicle Pouteria caimito

Acanthosyris spinescens Sapodilla Yellow star apple

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The pronunciation of scientific names is troublesome for many. The "suggestion" at the top of the page is merely a suggestion. It is based on commonly accepted English pronunciation of Greek names and/or some fairly well accepted "rules" for latinized scientific names.

The suggested pronunciations, on this page and on other pages, are primarily put forward to assist those who hear with internal ears as they read.

There are many collectors from different countries whose intonations and accents would be different.

Some of the early describers/namers chose genus and species names indicating some character of the insect, but more often, they simply chose names from Greek or Roman mythology or history.

Those species names which end in "ensis" indicate a specimen locale, and those which end in "i", pronounced "eye", honour a contempory friend/collector/etc.

The genus name "Copiopteryx" comes from the Greek word "pterygion" for wing.

The species name "semiramis" is probably from Semiramis, the wife of Nimrod and queen of Babylon.