DISTRIBUTION:

Lobobunaea phaedusa christyi flies in western equatorial Africa (Cameroon, etc) as far east as western Kenya and Uganda. It may fly south to Zambia. It is recorded in The Republic of Mali, Africa. Rodolph Rougerie reports it also flies in Burkina Faso. The moth is celebrated on a postage stamp.

If the data for the image to the right is correct, the bottom center moth, Lobobunaea phaedusa christyi, also flies in the Ethiopian highlands. Image by Cyril, France. Best guesses, left to right top: Epiphora lugardi, Pseudobunaea irius, Epiphora antinorii.

Thierry Bouyer indicates, March 2006, that this highly variable (sub)species is elevated to full species status by many people, but is retained as a subspecies of Lobobunaea phaedusa by some. He also indicates the range is from Senegal to Ethiopia in the dry, tropical, subsahalian zone.

The image of Lobobunaea christyi falcatissima in Pinhey's 1972 book shows a specimen with relatively large eyespots on all four wings. Pinhey indicates that Lobobunaea christyi christyi has wings that are "more heavily speckled with brown or black" than L. c. falcatissima. He also indicates the cat's paw on the ventral hindwing surface is greatly reduced or absent while on falcatissima it is very prominent with an extended arm and a large dot in the basal area. Pinhey also indicates that subspecies L. c. christyi has a forewing outer margin that is wavier than falcatissima, the apex is not as falcate, and the transverse line is further removed from the anal angle.

Pinhey decribes L. phaedusa as having a forewing dorsal eyespot that is greatly reduced (just a small clear spot) and no pad mark on the ventral surface of the hingwing.

Recently on insectnet.com, Jiri Zabokrtsky displayed a specimen, dorsal and ventral surfaces, that has the markings I would associate with Lobobunaea phaedusa, but Thierry Bouyer indicates it is "christyi" which he treats as a subspecies of L. phaedusa in 1999 Catalogue. Thierry also states (1999 Catalogue) "The taxa listed under L. phaedusa Drury, 1780, especially falcatissima and christyi, are often treated as separate species, but series from intermediate zones show imagines with mixed characters. These taxa are then considered to be conspecific despite the fact that the same nominative forms are exclusively found in some countries."

In March 2006 Thierry writes:
"I confirm 2 things
- this group is in need of revision
- this group is "very variable", geographic and insubspecific level and the two kinds of variation overlap. I wish good luck to the future reviser!
I add
- it is easy to breed under laboratory conditions
- first instars don't seem to give result (it must be confirmed) to distiguish clearly different sp or ssp.
- I saw hundreds specimens from nearly all kinds of localities and have in collection long series from some.
- Darge wrote recently a paper with descriptions of new taxa in this group .... unfortunately it is not a revision, very partial .... I am not convinced!"

I am assuming Thierry's comments refer to L. phaedusa desfontainei Darge, 1998 and L. phaedusa phaeax minutissima Darge, 1998 and possibly L. sangha Darge, 2002.

Based on Thierry's examination of a large series of specimens showing high variability and my own experience with Antheraea polyphemus from various locations across North America, also showing high variability, I would not be surprised to see many of these moths simply regarded as variations of Lobobunaea phaedusa. It will be interesting to see what 'comes about' over the years. Much is yet to be learned.

However, 'phaedusa' may be a wetland forest 'species', 'christyi' may be a subsahalian arid 'species/form', and 'falcatissima', based on comments by Rolf Oberprieler, is probably a valid species with range restricted to the savanna biome of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania and the Katanga area of the DR Congo. I have not seen images or descriptions of Darge's most recent classifications. (Bill Oehlke, March 2006).

Go to "christyi" to see Jiri Zabokrtsky's images of L. christyi.

Lobobunaea phaedusa christyi courtesy of John Marchant.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Lobobunaea phaedusa christyi moths are on the wing in ??

Robert Zaun writes, "Here is a photo of the caterpillar Lobobunea chrysti in fifth instar. In early instars it was fed normal oak leaves, then oak turneri and finally on Ilex oak supplied by or my friend Robert Lemaitre."

Lobobunaea phaedusa christyi fifth instar, courtesy of Robert Zaun.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Lobobunaea phaedusa christyi females attract males with an airbourne pheromone.

EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:

Females deposit eggs at night on hostplant foliage. Larvae feed and mature in approximately six weeks. At maturity, the larvae leave the host plant to pupate in subterranean chambers.

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.

Quercus Quercus ilex Quercus turneri .......

Oak Ilex oak Turner's oak

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.

The genus name Lobobunaea, is from the Greek and refers to a lobed hill-dweller. The genus specimen type is Lobobunaea phaedusa, males of which have a valve with a subapical lobe. The hindwings are also lobed at the anal angle. It may also be a montane species.

The species name phaedusa means "shining" in Greek, and may have been chosen to recognize the bright rings around the hindwing ocellus. The subspecies name christyi is honourific for Christy.

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