TAXONOMY:Superfamily Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802 |
"Moon River" |
There is a move to have spelling accepted as isabelae with one "l" as the species was named in honour of Queen Isabela of Spain. This seems to be generally accepted now in Europe.
Yeray Monasterio Leon sends this distribution summary:
"In Spain.
Occidental Pyrinees (Vasc Country and Aragon).
Oriental Pyrinees (Cataluña). This is the biggest area.
Caro Ports (or Beseit´s or Tortosa´s), at sud-west Tarragona´s
Province. This is the smaller area in the Iberian Peninsula.
Meridional Iberic System. This area includes Teruel, Cuenca,
Guadalajara and Castellon. This population is subdivided in three
areas.
* Sª de Albarracín, Montes Universales y Serranía de Cuenca. The area
where this species is more common.
* Sª de Javalambre
* Sª de Gúdar (Perol) y Mazizo de Peñagolosa (Castellón)
* Sierras de Cazorla y Segura (Jaén) y Sª de Alcaraz (Albacete).
This is the southest population and the only one which eats
Pinus nigra ss. salzmanii (Pinus laricio) and not
Pinus sylvestris as the other populations.
In France:
Jura Mountains, near Switzerland. It is a very small population. It
is the northernmost limit for this species.
Occidental Alps. In the Hautes-Alpes. It is the best stabilised
population in France. It was 1922 when Oberthür found the first
specimen of this species in France.
"There were described some subspecies, but various authors have equated all of them. For the moment Actias (=Graellsia) isabelae is a monotypic species."
Heinz Rothacher reports it in Canton Valais, Switzerland, where it occurs in light pine forest on the south-facing slopes at between 800 and 1600m altitude. Bernhard Wenczel also reports it in Switzerland. It is hard to know if it naturally occurs there or has been introduced. Visit Graellsia isabelae in copula, Valais (Wallis), Switzerland, near border between France and Italy, courtesy of Uwe Kauz and son.
There are also unconfirmed reports from northern Italy. Other names used in descriptions and now regarded by some as either synonyms or subspecies include the following:
diana Fairmaire, 1849.
galliaegloria Oberthür, 1923; Hautes-Alpes,
in Argentière-la-Bessée, southeastern France.
extensa Agenjo, 1953.
obscura Agenjo, 1953.
rufa Agenjo, 1953.
rufina Agenjo, 1953.
paradisea Marten, 1955; localised in the northeastern
Spanish Eastern Pyrenees and in Catalonia.
ceballosi Gómez Bustillo & Fernández-Rubio, 1974;
localised in the north of Andalusia in Sierra of Segura
and of Cazorla.
roncalensis Gómez Bustillo et al., 1974; Pyrénée,
northern Spain along border with southwestern France.
neuroflexaclara Abós Castel, 1983.
The "subspecies" galliaegloria from France is distinguished by its geography, larger size, apical curve of the posterior wings, darkening veins, the development of a dark, yet vestigial submarginal band on the posterior wings, and the size of the ocellar hyaline window.
The specimens I have seen from Switzerland seem to best match the description of galliagloria.
Populations are generally low and fragmented, and the species is protected by laws in Spain and France. Recently it has been reclassified as an Actias species. View the hybrid specimen (luna x isabellae) in the hybrid section.
Even more recently (2005) a paper was written recommending it remain as the separate genus Graellsia.
* Yeray Monasterio Leon of Spain recently contacted me (May 2007) and indicates this moth was originally named to honour Queen Isabel of Spain. As such there is a move to try to have the accepted spelling with two ll's in isabellae changed to isabelae to maintain consistency for the honourific name choice.
Yeray has sent me a nice write up and beautiful images of Graellsia isabelae ceballosi.
Carlos-Lopez Vaamonde has posted additional information about Graellsia isabelae at Graellsia isabelae.
Carlos Lopez Vaamonde has recently sent me a pdf file of a report on Non-lethal DNA sampling from leg and wing parts of Graellsia isabelae males and females. The file is for your personal reading use and should not be copied or redistributed.
Carlos Lopez Vaamonde has recently (April 2009) sent me a pdf file of a report on Characterization of ten polymorphic microsatellite markers of Graellsia isabelae. The file is for your personal reading use and should not be copied or redistributed.
Carlos Lopez Vaamonde has recently (September 2010) sent me images and a pdf file of research on Use of pheromone lures to detect populations of Graellsia isabellae.
Local conditions can allow for a March early appearance or a delay until early July.
The moths come in to lights.
Photo (female) courtesy of Leroy Simon.
The males are usually smaller than females but have much broader antennae. Their bodies are also slimmer.
Jean Haxaire writes (May 2006), "Graellsia isabellae are easy to pair by hand. You must do that around 9PM when the female attracts and when the male starts to fly. It could take 5 minutes, sometimes less. In a big cage, when you let the moths fly, they never pair according to many experiences."
Eggs, which need high humidity (misting in artificial situations) are deposited on coniferous trees, principally P. sylvestris and P. nigra ssp. salzmanii (laricio). |  |
Larvae develop slowly and in early stages are
greenish-black with pale stripes.
Laboratory (indoor) rearing is easy on Pinus species provided
periodic misting is applied.
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Larvae are easily reared in sleeves, provided natural conditions afford appropriate humidity. It is more important to give them fresh air without accumulated humidity. The larvae grow in Pinus woodlands at 20 meters up of the forest floor. Yeray Monasterio Leon writes, "The critical moment for rearing Graellsia in captivity is during the first instar. When they hatch, they have a very strong phototropism (which helps them in nature to get up to the very big pines woodlands where they live), and they walk for days without eating. Usually a very big percent die by dehydration. They walk much, but they don´t start to eat, so they lose water that is not replenished.
Once the larvae start to eat, you will not have any problem rearing them."
The following foodplants have been utilized with success:
Pinus nigra (ssp. sazmanii in nature) ..... Black pine
Pinus maritima ..... Corsican pine
Pinus mugo (=uncinata) ..... Mugo pine
Pinus sylvestris ..... Scotch pine
Pinus radiata ..... Radiata pine (Succesfully used by
Christopher Conlan)
Yeray Monasterio Leon writes, "We are experimenting with Pinus canariensis with good results until now. We have reared them to L5, but they died from Bacteria attack. This year we need to see if they pupate correctly and if they hatch correctly too.
"I will tell you next spring.
"It is interesting to note that other Spanish species of Pinus are not good foods for Graellsia. Experiments with P. halepensis, P. pinaster, P. pinea, Larix, Cedrus and Pseudotsuga yield very bad results. Sometimes pupae hatch with Cedrus, but in a very low percentage."
At pupation time larvae are pale green with lighter green and red-brown
stripes on their backs. Photo courtesy of Mark Lasko. |
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Larvae can easily be reared in sleeves provided natural conditions maintain a proper humidity and the inner air does not overheat. Good circulation is important.Photo courtesy of Mark Lasko. | 
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Pinus nigra sazmanii |
Black pine |
Over the years a number of outstanding images of Graellsia isabelae have been sent to me. In some cases they were listed as Graellsia isabellae while in others they were listed as Actias isabellae. It will be interesting to see if the species spelling will be corrected to its original intended use, to honour Queen Isabel of Spain.
Visit:
Graellsia isabellae male and female, Queyras, France, courtesy of Thibaud Decaens.
Graellsia isabellae male, female, egg, first instar, cocoon, pupa, courtesy/copyright Rudi Haller, March 2009.
Actias isabellae, courtesy of Anthony Darby.
Graellsia isabellae female, Jean Haxaire
Graellsia isabellae male by Scott Smith, May 13, 2001
Graellsia isabellae male and female by Bob Vuattoux, May 13, 2001
Graellsia isabellae male and female, by Bernhard Wenczel, posted May 20, 2002
Graellsia isabellae male and female, by Viktor Suter, posted May 20, 2002
Graellsia isabellae and Samia cynthia first instar larvae by Aldo Tonon, posted July 16, 2002.
Graellsia isabellae female, courtesy/copyright Robert Thompson
Graellsia isabelae galliaegloria bilateral gynandromorph, courtesy of Carlo Lopez-Vaamonde.
Graellsia isabelae (isabellae) bilateral gynandromorph, courtesy of Alan Marson.
One of the reasons for placing Graellsia isabelae in the genus Actias was the outstanding success had in France with successful and beautiful hybridization of Graellsis isabelae with many Actias species:
Visit:
Actias luna x Graellsia isabellae by Chris Conlan, Robert Lemaitre and Bob Vuattoux
Actias luna x Graellsia isabellae by Rainer Plontke, Franz Renner and Bob Vuattoux
Graellsia isabellae x Actias artemis by Dominique Ades and Bob Vuattoux
Graellsia isabellae x Actias dubernardi larva and prediction by Dominique Ades (part of team)
Hybrid of Graellsia isabellae x Actias dubernardi courtesy of Dominique Adès
Graellsia isabellae x Actias dubernardi larvae and male (eggs from team) courtesy of Rainer Plontke
Graellsia isabellae galiaegloria x Actias gnoma by hybridization team
Graellsia isabellae x Actias heterogyna by Bob Vuattoux
Graellsia isabellae x Actias isis by Bob Vuattoux
Graellsia isabellae x Actias selene by Raymond Cocault
Graellsia isabellae x Actias selene by Felix Stumpe
Graellsia isabellae x Actias sinensis larvae by Robert Lemaitre
Graellsia isabellae x Actias sinensis male and larvae by Horst Kach
Graellsia isabellae x Actias selene larva by Bob Vuattoux
Graellsia isabellae x Actias truncatipennis by Bob Vuattoux
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