DISTRIBUTION:

Rohaniella jebbae flies in Niger and Guinea, Africa and possibly in countries in between those two countries in western Africa. Wulf Dieter Gaiser reports them in Ivory Coast: Ganse.

Thierry Bouyer indicates (1999) that R. guineenis is a synonym of R. jebbae.

Rodolphe Rougerie writes, April 27, 2006, "R. guineensis was described from Guinea ; I know nothing about jebbae... The difference between guineensis and the nominal pygmaea is supposed to be chiefly a difference in wing shape, the outer margin being convex in pygmaea and rather straight in guineensis; also the outer band of forewing is larger and darker in guineensis, and parallell to the outer margin.

"All of these characters, along with biogeography, would link my specimens from Burkina Faso to guineensis, but I prefer to stay cautious before naming them jebbae or even guineensis because I have not sufficiently compared my specimens with those of other parts from Africa where the nominal form is supposed to fly. I'll do it before publishing the second part of my study on the saturniid fauna of Burkina... and I will then keep you informed.

"So... the question remains... is jebbae/guineensis a valid species/subspecies? I cannot reply right now, but I'll try to know more very soon while writing up my paper about the Bunaeini and Urotini from Burkina.

"R. guineensis was described by bouvier in 1927 (Mém. Ac. Sci., 59 (4), pp. 18-20, fig. 9); unfortunately I don't have this paper. On the other hand, jebbae would have been described by Sharpe in 1899 within the genus Nudaurelia (Ann. Nat. Hist., III (7), 372); according to Bouvier it is illustrated in Gaede's volume on African saturniids (in Seitz)... but I haven't checked it.

"Attached is a picture of a male Rohaniella from Burkina."

A Rohaniella specimen from Burkina Faso, courtesy of Rodolphe Rougerie.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

This moth probably flies from October to November.

Rohaniella jebbae larvae probably feed upon Wild Seringa.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

These night flying moths pair after dark and both sexes are attracted to lights. Males have broadly feathered antennae.

EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE:

Pearly white, narrowly oval eggs are laid in small clusters of 2-4 on the undersides of foodplant leaves.

Gregarious purple larvae in first two instars become solitary and green as they develop up to 50 mm in length. Pupation is in the soil.

Larval Food Plants

Burkea seringa.....

Wild seringa

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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.

The genus name Rohaniella possibly is honourific for a French statesman.

The species name "jebbae" is probably honourific for a girl/woman named Jebba.