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: Nudaurelia, W. Rothschild, 1895

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DISTRIBUTION:

Nudaurelia belaynesae flies in Kenya. Bill Hark photographed the specimen at the top of the page at Ark Forest Lodge in Aberdare National Park, in the Rift Valley Region, Kenya, on February 13, 1998.

The Aberdare range, 160 km long, is located in the Central Highlands, Central Province, west of Mount Kenya and north of Nairobi, serving as the Kenyan Rift Valley's east wall.

The park is the highest in all Africa, since most of the plateau is located above an altitude of 3,000 m. The highest peaks in the park are the Kinangop, with 3,906 m, and the Oldonyo Lesatima, "the mountain of the young bull" in the Maa language of the Maasai, with 4,001 m. The landscape is dominated by deeply foggy rain forest, which confers the park a fairyland atmosphere.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

The Nudaurelia belaynesae moth flies in February and possibly in other months.

Larval hosts are unknown.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Eclosion is from underground pupae.

Both sexes fly at night with the males coming in to lights around midnight, the scenting time of the females.

EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:

Mature larvae 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.

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