Imbrasia ertli
im-BRAY-see-uhMERT-lye
Rebel, 1904

Imbrasia ertli composited by Bill Oehlke
from Rolf Oberprieler's The Emperor Moths of Namibia.

Imbrasia ertli male, Sakania, Democratic Republic of the Congo,
January 8, 2013, courtesy of Nigel Voaden,
tentative id by Bill Oehlke; might be Imbrasia obscura.

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 Family: Saturniidae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834 Subfamily: Saturniinae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834 Tribe: Bunaeini, Packard, 1902 Genus: Imbrasia, Hübner, [1819] 1816

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DISTRIBUTION: The Diverse Emperor, Imbrasia ertli, (wingspan 11-13 cm) flies in Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), just reaching into north-eastern Namibia. Larvae are reported as an important human food in the Bas Congo province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Natural History Museum reports it from Delagoa Bay in Mozambique and from Transvaal in northeastern South Africa.

BOLD Systems indicates the moth also flies in Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Kenya, Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Zambia: Central Province: Kasanka N. P.,
and Mozambique. The BOLD system reports, however, could be in error, as preliminary data was based upon locations given for specimens presumed to be ertli which might have been obscura.

In a fairly recent publication by Philippe Darge where he summarizes colection data from Robert Minetti, ertli is listed from northern Zambia, but obscura is not listed, perhaps it simply was not collected there by Minetti.

In the Bas Congo province, this moth is much appreciated for its gregarious larvae. The moth is on the wing from October (November in Zambia) to February.

Female moths deposit eggs in groups on the leaves of Ricinodendron heudelotii, Petersianthus macrocarpus (African stinkwood), Funtumia africana (False rubber tree) or Holarrhena floribunda.

Frass found below the trees is a good indicator caterpillars are present. The larvae move and feed in groups where the individual larvae maintain close contact. Initially larvae have long hairs, but in the final instar, when they are collected, most of the hairs are lost.

These caterpillars also descend the tree trunks to between 1 and 2m above ground level when shedding their skins.

Normally, harvesters gather the entire colony to roast, boil or sun dry the prize for later use.

Imbrasia ertli, Congo, gathered for human consumption, called "chini".
Image courtesy of Bruce G. Marcot, Ph.D., research wildlife ecologist, at EPOW

Imbrasia ertli male, 106mm, BOLD Systems, on my home computer only.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

There are two generations of Imbrasia ertli annually with adults on the wing from October until February.

Larvae feed on Julbernardia and Brachystegia and on Acacia.

Imbrasia ertli female, 118mm, BOLD Systems,
on my home computer only.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Imbrasia ertli females have finer antennae and much more rounded forewings than males which have distinctly angled hind wings. Females scent at night when both sexes are active and attracted to lights.

EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:

Eggs are deposited in large clusters on tips of foodplant stems. Larvae are gregarious in all instars and descend foodplant at maturity (90 mm) to pupate in the soil. The black larvae with their red heads and rear ends are covered with dense, long, white hairs. Image from Rolf Oberprieler's The Emperor Moths of Namibia.

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.

Acacia Brachystegia spiciformis Caloncoba welwitschii Crossopteryx febrifuga Hyparrhenia will diplandra Julbernardia globifera Millettia laurentii Petersianthus macrocarpus Pteridium centrali-africanum.......

Acacia Msasa Mbubu Mukwati/Ngungo Hyparrhenia will diplandra Munondo Ntungila/Singa-Singa Bolinzo Misili

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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.

"Imbrasia", according to Pinhey, 1972, is from the Latin 'imber' meaning rain. Flight, in many cases, may accompany the onset of the rainy season or moths may seem to prefer humid, misty or even rainy nights.

The species name "ertli" is honourific for a school inspector named J. N. Ertl of Munchen (Pinhey, 1972).