Rothschildia lebeau forbesi
rawths-CHILD-ee-uhmmLEH-bohmmFORBS-eye
Benjamin, 1934
Photo (male) courtesy of Leroy Simon.
This site has been created by
Bill Oehlke at oehlkew@islandtelecom.com
Comments, suggestions and/or additional information are welcomed by Bill.
TAXONOMY:Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802 |
"Girl from Ipanema"
midi by Mel WebbON.OFF |
DISTRIBUTION:
Forbe's Silkmoth (Wing span 10.0 - 12.5cm) flies only in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas and in Mexico: Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas.
Rothschildia lebeau forbesi belongs to a group of four species: lebeau, cincta, prionia, paucidentata. All four species lack white scales on the outer margin of the hindwings (possible exception: forbesi. In lebeau forbesi the postmedian line is straight with a slight inward curve in the area between the costa and the outer angle of the hyaline spot.
This is also a smaller subspecies, but the forewing apex is pronounced and there are always some white scales in the forewing outer margins. Ground colour tends to be a very dark brown.
FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:
There are two broods from February-April and from September-November. Larvae feed on a wide range of native and introduced plants including lime prickly ash (Zanthoxylum fagara), Mexican ash (Fraxinus berlandieriana), willow (Salix), peach (Prunus persica), citrus (Citrus), and acacia (Acacia).
Rothschildia lebeau forbesi female, copyright Kirby Wolfe
Rothschildia lebeau forbesi, courtesy Michal Pikner
ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:
Adults emerge in the early evening, and mating occurs from about 10 PM to midnight. The wings of the female (image below) are less falcate than those of the male.
Rothschildia forbesi courtesy of Eric van Schayck.
EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:
Eggs are deposited in the evening on host plant leaves in rows of three to six.Young caterpillars feed in groups while older ones are solitary feeders.
Rothschildia lebeau forbesi fifth instar and cocoon on privet,
Listed below are the primary food plant(s) and alternate food plants listed in Stephen E. Stone's Foodplants of World Saturniidae and/or on various internet resources. 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.
 Photo courtesy of Leroy Simon. RETURN TO Worldwide IndexReturn to Rothschildia Index Goto U.S. - Canada Index
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 species name, lebeau, as well as the suspecies name
"forbesi" probably honour contemporaries, Lebeau and Forbes.
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