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Updated as per Pinhey's Emperor Moths of South and South-Central Africa, 1972, May 10, 2006 Updated as per Bouyer's Catalogue of African Saturniidae, 1999, October 1, 2006 Updated as per personal communication with Jurgen van Houdt (pupae image from South Africa); February 8, 2014 |
This site has been created by
Bill Oehlke at oehlkew@islandtelecom.com
Comments, suggestions and/or additional information are welcomed by Bill.
TAXONOMY:Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802 |
Wind Beneath My Wings |
I (Bill Oehlke) would not be surprised if many of the moths, currently (2006) listed as subspecies of belina, are someday synonymized with belina.
This page will be updated as images and information become available. Currently I have very little information.
I believe this moth flies in Transvaal, South Africa.
Gonimbrasia belina annulata pupae, South Africa,
courtesy of Jurgen van Houdt.
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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 Gonimbrasia means "angled one
liking rain" according to Pinhey.
The species name belina might be for a mythical king (Pinhey, 1972);
it might also be for a peasant girl who gave up her life to
protect her virginity.
The subspecies name annulata might ?? refer to rings.