Imbrasia orientalis
Updated as per Pinhey's Emperor Moths of South and South-Central Africa, 1972, May 28, 2006
Updated as per Bouyer's Catalogue of African Saturniidae, 1999, May 28, 2006
Updated as per personal communication with Thierry Bouyer, May, 2006
Updated as per personal communication with David T. Rolfe (January--Zambia and wingspan) January 2007

Imbrasia orientalis
im-BRAY-see-uhmmor-ee-en-TAHL-is
Rougeot, 1962

Imbrasia orientalis male, courtesy of Teemu Klemetti.

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, Hubner, [1819] 1816

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DISTRIBUTION:

The Imbrasia orientalis moth (wingspan: males 100mm; females 110mm) flies in Katanga in the southern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Zambia, Africa.

Imbrasia orientalis male, Mwinilunga Township, Zambia,
January 4, 1997, 100mm, courtesy of David T. Rolfe.

FLIGHT TIMES AND LARVAL HOSTS:

David T. Rolfe reports them on the wing in January in Zambia.

Imbrasia orientalis larval hosts are unknown.

Imbrasia orientalis female, Mwinilunga Township, Zambia,
January 11, 1997, 110mm, courtesy of David T. Rolfe.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Both sexes are active at night. Males come in to lights around midnight when females are scenting.

EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:

Pupation is in the soil in a subterranean chamber.

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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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 "orientalis" refers to the range in eastern Africa.