DISTRIBUTION:

The Hispaniodirphia plana moth (wingspan: males: 52-66mm; females: 60mm) flies in the Dominican Republic (Hispaniola).

Dominican Republic: Monsenor Nouel, road from El Blanca to Jima, km. 15, 1.5 km after crossing, 18.906, -70.532, collected by J. Barbut et al., 2004-05-17. (Mirror)

The forewing is of fairly uniform reddish-brown colour. The am line is non-existent; the pm line is broadly preapical, weak and inwardly lined with lighter scaling; the cell marking is slightly darker than the ground colour and is an indistinct relatively thin bar. The basal are has darker scaling.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Specimens have been taken in May and in July. Larvae and their hosts are unknown.

Hispaniodirphia plana male (verso), courtesy of Rodolphe Rougerie
left side copied to right by Bill Oehlke

On the ventral surface, the hindwing is darker than the forewing. All wings are devoid of all but vestigial pm lines, all wings have a white cell patch.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Females extend a scent gland from the tip of the abdomen, and the night-flying males detect and track the airbourne pheromone plume with their well-developed antennae.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Eggs are deposited in clusters on hostplant foliage.

Hispaniola plana larvae are highly gregarious and have the urticating spines typical of larvae from the Subfamily Hemileucinae.

Larval Food Plants

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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