DISTRIBUTION:

Thierry Bouyer indicates Gonimbrasia belina deborah as a subspecies of belina, but clarifies in his notes, "The Gonimbrasia belina group is complex and all taxa related to belina are just listed (except obvious synonyms). Some of these species may represent separate species or subspecies."

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 suspect this moth flies in eastern Africa???. The Natural History Museum indicates Mozambique.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Eclosion is from underground pupae.

EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:

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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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 deborah is probably honourific for a woman named Deborah.