Periga angulosa
Updated as per Lemaire's Hemileucinae 2002, November 27, 2005
SHILAP: Notes on some Saturniidae from Albania (Caqueta Department), Racheli and Vinciguerra, 2005
Updated as per personal communication with Horst Kach (Sucumbios and Napo), January 2008

Periga angulosa
purr-EE-guhMang-you-LOH-suh
(Lemaire, 1972) Lonomia (Periga) angulosa

Periga angulosa male, Lumbaqui, Sucumbios, Ecuador,
October 16, 2007, courtesy/copyright Horst Kach.

TAXONOMY:

Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802
Family: Saturniidae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834
Subfamily: Hemileucinae, Grote & Robinson, 1866
Tribe: Hemileucinae, Grote & Robinson, 1866
Genus: Periga, Walker, 1955

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DISTRIBUTION:

Periga angulosa (forewing length: males: 35mm; females: 44-46mm / wingspan: males: 67-73mm; females: 78-87mm) flies in
eastern Peru: Loreto, San Martin, Madre de Dios;
eastern Colombia: Caqueta, and (probably ?? Amazonas, Putamayo and Vaupes);
eastern Ecuador: Morona-Santiago (CL)) and (Sucumbios and Orellana confirmed), Napo;
Guyana: Berbice;
French Guiana: Cayenne, Regina, Coralie, Oyapok;
Brazil: Para and (probably Roraima, Amazonas and Acre (WO??))
Bolivia: Pando.

I suspect ?? it also flies in Suriname, and it might ?? fly in southern Venezuela ??

Possibly some of the recently (2013) described species replace P. angulosa in the areas listed in the chart.

Specimens have been taken in habitats with elevations ranging from 250m to 950m.

In males, the forewing apex is sharp with a hollowed out section just below it, followed by an outward projection. Grown colour ranges from brown with dark speckling to very dark brown. Cell markings are small and weak.

The hindwing has two hollowed out sections, one just below the apex and the other along the inner margin just above the anal angle which is lobed.

Periga angulosa Subgroup: (some images on my home computer only)

Periga angulosa

Mfwl: 30-33mm; Ffwl: 44-46mm
grey-brown ground colour
Ecuador: Sucumbios; Orellana; Napo; Morona-Santiago
Colombia: Caqueta
250-950m

Periga angcuscensis

Mfwl: 34-35mm; Ffwl: 44-46mm
brighter, reddish brown ground colour
Peru: Cusco: near Mandor and near Marcapata
890-1270m.

Periga angjunensis

Mfwl: 35mm; F: unknown
more brownish than angulosa
pm line more pre-apical than in angulsa
Peru: Junin: Rio Venado: Sunin
1050m

Periga angguyensis

Mfwl: 37mm; Ffwl: 41mm
French Guiana: Cayenne; Belizon; Saint-Jean de Maroni
yellowish tint to light brown ground colour
50-250m

There seems to be very little in way of physical appearance to differentiate between P. angulosa and the several new species described by Brechlin & Meister, 2013.

I do not know if any are sympatric or if one species consistently replaces the other in the areas mentioned.

I doubt that I would be able to distinguish any species, one from another, without location, and it remains to be seen what flies in areas between respective specimen type locations.

The male P. angguyensis is not depicted in the Entomo-Satsphingia journals up to March 2013, but the French Guiana specimen provided by Alex Cahurel seems a lighter brown with a yellowish tint, consistent with the publication description.

Periga angulosa male (verso), Lumbaqui, Sucumbios, Ecuador,
October 16, 2007, courtesy/copyright Horst Kach.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Moths are on the wing in January-March, April-May, August, October-November, suggesting at least four broods annually.

Larval hosts are unknown.

Periga angulosa female, Cando, Napo, Ecuador,
August 7, 2004, courtesy/copyright Horst Kach.

Periga angulosa female, Cando, Napo, Ecuador,
August 7, 2004, courtesy/copyright Horst Kach.

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.

Periga angulosa?? male, 91mm, Pacto, Pichincha, Ecuador,
October 17, 2007, 1000m, courtesy of Alex Cahurel.

The Alex Cahurel specimen depicted above is considerably larger than other P. angulosa specimens, and, since it is from western Ecuador, might be an undescribed species/subspecies.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Eggs are probably deposited in clusters on hostplant foliage.

Periga angulosa larvae are probably 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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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.

I do not know the source of the genus name "Periga" chosen by Walker in 1855.

The species name "angulosa" is for the distinctive angular wing shape of this moth. The forewing apex is very sharp and the hindwing anal angle is lobed.

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Periga angulosa male, 73mm, Sucumbios, Ecuador,
on my home computer only; same image supplied by Horst, top of page.

Periga angulosa female, Orellana, Ecuador,
on my home computer only.