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Updated as per Lemaire's Hemileucinae 2002, February 2008 Updated as per personal communication with Alejandro Borquez, June 4, 2011 |
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 |
"What.A.Wonderful.World" |
Most of the information on this page for Argentina comes from Alejandro Borquez.
Visit Pseudautomeris grammivora male, female, foodplant, eggs, larvae, cocoon, images,
Argentina, courtesy of Alejandro Borquez.
Visit Pseudautomeris grammivora instars 1-6 on bamboo, Argentina, courtesy of Leroy Simon.
The cream-yellow/brown postmedian line does not reach the inner margin and tends to be somewhat curved.
Very oblique, slightly preapical, brown pm line, with a very strong inward tracing of yellow, distinguishes this species. The pm line approaches the inner third of the inner margin, but does not meet it. The am line is absent or very week. Cell usually concolorous, sometimes slightly darker than surroundings. Often with suffusion of darker scales in the subterminal area. 750m
In Argentina, Alejandro Borquez indicates there are three flights each year, the first one in October, the second one in January and the last one
in March. Adults are attracted by the lights in those months.
Larvae feed on Typha latifolia, common name Totora. It is an herbaceous plant with long vertical leaves in the shape of tape, and it grows in very
damp places. Leaves grow to lengths of 1 to 2 meters. It blooms in spring and is resistant to the frosts.
Other hosts are Lirio pseudoacorus, common name yellow Lirio, and Acoro falso, bastardo Acoro. Leaves are also tape-like, with lengths up to 1.2 meters.
This plant was introduced from the Mediterranean region; it is exotic in Buenos Aires, therefore invasive. It also grows in humid places.
Pseudautomeris grammivora female-Ex ovum, José C. Paz, Pcia. Buenos Aires, Argentina,
January, 15, 2011, courtesy of Alejandro Borquez.
Pseudotomeris grammivora female, courtesy of Thibaud Decaens.
Pseudautomeris grammivora pair, courtesy of Bernhard Wenczel.
The cocoon is single-walled and thin.
Alejandro Bourquez indicates the adults eclose in spring, copulate, and females deposit eggs in irregular form on Totora's long leaves or Lirio of
river. From 15 to 20 eggs can be deposited in a single group, with females laying totals of 90-110 eggs. Eggs incubate for 13 to 15 days. Early instar larvae are
gregarious, and tend to feed on the more tender ends of the leaves. Up to the third instar they remain united. They have a wide array of spines which can
cause much pain to pests/predators.
In the fifth and last instar, with a size of 80 mm to 100 mm, larvae fashion a cocoon adhering to host plant foliage or to nearby foliage.
Non-diapausing pupae yield adults within 25 to 27 days.
The parasitism is very frequent by memeber of the Ichneumonidae family.
Pseudautomeris grammivora fifth instar, Villa Real, Buenos Aires, Argentina,
February 23, 2008, courtesy of Sr. Aníbl Rubén González
Acoro falso |
Bastard Acoro |
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