DISTRIBUTION:

Periphoba unicolor (wingspan: males: 65-72mm; females: 70-90mm) flies in
Mexico: Veracruz and Tabasco; and is probably endemic to the Bahia de Campeche along the coast in the Southeast.

The male is an almost uniform bright yellow-orange with darker orange-brown marking in the uper half of the forewing marginal area. There are no lines on any wings in either gender. The forewing cell is small, sub-oval and dark brown in the male, and is vestigial at best in the paller yellow female whose forewings are more elongate, less full, compared to the male whose outer margin is decidely convex, extending outward beyond the apex. The forewing outer margin of the female is also quite convex, but follows a much more oblique orientation toward the anal angle.

Visit Identification Aides: Periphoba chart; Mexico and Central America.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Specimens have been taken in February and in April-May, indicating at least two broods annually. Larval hosts are unknown.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Females extend a scent gland from the tip of the abdomen, and the day-flying males (suspected) pick up and track the airbourne pheromone plume with their well-developed antennae.

I remember Kirby Wolfe telling me that most diurnal males have black antennae, so possibly the male unicolor flies at night, having rusty-yellow antennae.

Periphoba unicolor female, Mexico,
courtesy of Dr. Manuel A. Balcazar Lara

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Eggs are probably deposited in clusters on hostplant foliage.

Periphoba unicolor larvae are probably highly gregarious and have the urticating spines typical of larvae from the Subfamily Hemileucinae.

The long pair of posterior "spikes" and the more extensive anterior "spinage" are typical of mature Periphoba larvae.

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 "Periphoba" chosen by Hubner in 1820.

The origin of the species name "unicolor" is for the uniform yellow-buff ground colour of the wings and body.

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