DISTRIBUTION:

Rothschildia belus is known only from southeastern Brazil: Espirito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, Parana (CM), Sao Paulo, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.

Rothschildia belus has been placed in the subgroup of six species characterized by 1) two longitudinal white stripes on the dorsal surface of the abdomen, 2) two or three subapical spots on the forewing and 3) a white prothoracic collar: jacobaeae; condor; tucumani; erycina; belus; hopfferi.

Jacobaeae, condor and tucumani have large rounded spots, while those of erycina, belus and hopfferi are narrow triangles.

R. belus is about the same size as erycina mexicana and its only external difference is the slightly more brownish red colour in belus. The image below is of Rothschildia erycina mexicana.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Cherry is probably the prefered hostplant for captive rearing.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Mating occurs in the wee hours of the morning with males on the wing around 3:00 am.

The female stil has the much pronounced forewing apex, but generally her wings are much more rounded.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Larvae probably do best on Prunus. They also probably take Ailanthus quite readily but grow slowly on privet.

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.

Ailanthus altissima..... Ligustrum Prunus

Ailanthus Privet Cherry

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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.

There are many collectors from different countries whose intonations and accents would be different.

"Rothschildia" is chosen to honour one of the Rothschilds, possibly William.

The species name, belus, could drive from a number of sources:
1) Belus is the son of Poseidon by Libya, daughter of Epaphus, who was the son of Io and Zeus. Belus's most famous sons were Aegyptus and Danaus.
2) Belus is the king of Sidon and father of Dido (Virgil I, 621, 729).
3) Belus is the Latin name for the Semitic god Baal.

source: Micha F. Lindemans