Pseudobunaea heyeri meloui

Updated as per Bouyer's Catalogue of African Saturniidae, 1999, September 2010
Updated as per SATURNIDES DE COTE D'IVOIRE (SCI), S.HERDER, X.LERY, G.FEDIERE, NKKOUASSI, 1989; September 19, 2010
Updated as per personal communication with Alain Coache (Senegal); June 8, 2015

Pseudobunaea heyeri meloui
Pseudobunaea meloui
(Riel, 1910) (Bunaea)

Pseudobunaea meloui (full species status), Senegal,
courtesy of Alain Coache, id by Thierry Bouyer.

Pseudobunaea heyeri meloui, courtesy of Alain Van Vyve .

This site has been created by Bill Oehlke at oehlkew@islandtelcom.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: Pseudobunaea, Bouvier, 1927

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DISTRIBUTION:

Pseudobunaea heyeri meloui, now with full species atatus as Pseudobunaea meloui, flies in
Ivory Coast: Lamto (near Divo);
Senegal (AC); and
Gambia and
possibly as far east as Kenya, Africa and
possibly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The image to the right, courtesy of Dr. Linda K. Barnett, is from Gambia. Id by Thierry Bouyer.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Pseudobunaea meloui moth flies during the months February and Arpil-May as form brunel in Lamto, Ivory Coast.

Larvae probably feed on Brachystegia randi, Pterocarpus, Uapaca and Berlinia. Brachystegia spiciformis and Populus would probably also serve as larval hosts.

Pseudobunaea meloui male (verso), All Leps Barcode of Life:
Biodiversity Institute of Ontario.

Pseudobunaea meloui female (verso), All Leps Barcode of Life:
Biodiversity Institute of Ontario.

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.

Pseudobunaea meloui male, Ghana,
courtesy of Jason Wright, via Alan Marson,
tentative id by Bill Oehlke.

I (Bill Oehlke) think the moth from Ghana is either meloui or heyeri, but it could also be another Pseudobunaea species.

EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:

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.