DISTRIBUTION:

Rhescyntis hippodamia gigantea (wingspan: males: 160-172mm; females: 160mm) flies in damp tropical and equatorial woods in
southeastern Brazil: Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Parana (CM), Santa Catarina, probably Sao Paulo.

This subspecies is larger than the nominate species and the lower wing shape is less angular than in other subspecies.

This moth may have been elevated to full species status.

Rhescyntis hippodamia gigantea, male, Joinville, SC, Brazil, courtesy of Carlos Mielke.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Moths are on the wing in January. (Eurides Furtado) Nicodemus Rosa reports an Ocotber 15, 2010, flight in Pitangui, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Pitangui is west-north-west of Belo Horizonte, about one-fifth of the way to Uberlandia.

Rhescyntis hippodamia gigantea male, Pitangui, Minas Gerais, Brazil,
courtesy of Nicodemus Rosa, via "lepido, France".

Rhescyntis hippodamia gigantea, female, Joinville, SC, Brazil, courtesy of Carlos Mielke.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Rhescyntis hippodamia gigantea males use their antennae to seek out females which scent at night.

EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:

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 'Rhescyntis' chosen by Hubner in 1819.

The species name 'hippodamia' is from Greek mythology. Hippodamia, the daughter of Oenomaus, wished to marry Pelops, so she persuaded Myrtilus, son of Hermes, to help Pelops win the chariot race against her father, according to Apollodorus.

The subspecies name, 'gigantea', is for the very large size of this moth.