DISTRIBUTION:

Periga alticola (wingspan: males: 52-57mm; females: 67mm // forewing length: males: 27-29mm; females: 36mm) flies in
Brazil: Minas Gerais; Rio de Janeiro; at elevations of 900-2400m.

The male forewing is somewhat elongated. The apex is neither acute nor produced. The outer margin is convex to only slightly convex. The dorsal ground color is very uniform, and ranges from yellowish-brown to carmine, and is the same as the thorax dorsally without differentiation among ante-, median, and postmedian areas. The irregular submarginal band slightly darker, but barely visible.

The ante- and postmedial lines are gray, to pinkish-gray, with the antemedial line slightly marked and sometimes bordered distally by pale yellow. The post median line is almost apical, diffuse apically, bordered with pale yellow proximally. The two whitish discal spots are sometimes surrounded by dark gray scales and slightly connected by a narrow dark gray streak with a tiny white dot midway.

The hindwing is dorsally colored as the forewing, anteriorly lighter; postmedial line rarely bordered with pale yellow, postmedian area as forewing.

Periga circumstans male (probably P. alticola) (verso), Itanhandu, Minas Gerais, Brazil,
February 22, 2011, 925m, courtesy of Larry Valentine.

The very yellow antennae, hindwing am line and connection of cell spots suggest Periga circumstans (probably P. alticola), over Lonomia obliqua.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Moths are on the wing in January-February-March-April, October-November-December. Larval hosts are unknown.

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.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Eggs are probably deposited in clusters on hostplant foliage.

Periga alticola 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 "alticola" is indicative of a higher elevation species. Periga alticola is known only from high lands of the Itatiaia Mountains at Serra da Mantiqueira.

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