DISTRIBUTION:

Perisomena caecigena transcaucasica (wingspan: males ??; females: approx 77mm) flies in Turkey and Armenia.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

This nocturnal species inhabits dry, shrubby, open woodlands populated with oaks, the favorite larval foodplants. Males start to fly in late September through early November as soon as darkness falls, preferring cool, moist conditions.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

This species starts to emerge after the onset of cool autumn nights, having spent the late summer as a pupa.

Females, which are less colourful than males, extend a scent gland at the posterior tip of the abdomen to call in the males who use their highly developed antennae to pick up and hone in on the scent plume.

Perisomena caecigena transcaucasia female, courtesy of Jiri Zabokrtsky.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

In late fall, females lay up to 100 rectangular, 2.5 x 2mm, glossy cream coloured eggs in batches of up to six on the twigs of trees.

A sticky glue keeps the eggs affixed to the twigs throughout winter. Eggs hatch the following spring with the onset of warmer weather.

The newly-hatched, 4.5mm long larvae consume part of their eggshells and then wander off some distance to find suitable resting sites among the unfurling spring oak leaves.

Growth is rapid, and larvae shed skins to move into the second instar in roughly one week.

The larvae require hot, dry conditions and reach 60 mm at maturity in the fifth and final instar.

Listed below are the 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.

Fraxinus Populus nigra P. alba Prunus Pyrus communis Quercus robur........... Q. petraea Q. pubescens Q. cerris Quercus nigra Q. suber Q. ilex

Ash Black poplar White poplar Cherry Pear English oak Durmast oak oak Turkey oak Water oak oak Holly/Holm oak

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