Rothschildia orizaba cauca
Updated as per Heppner's Checklist: Part 4B 1996, January 1, 2005
Updated as per Lemaire's Attacidae 1978, December 27, 2005
Polillas Saturnidas de Colombia, 1997, Angela R. Amarillo-S., January 2007

Rothschildia orizaba cauca
roths-CHILD-ee-uhmmor-ih-ZAH-buhmmKOW-kuh
Rothschild, 1907

This is possibly R. o. cauca, based on extension of hyaline spots and deep orange colour.

TAXONOMY:

Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802
Family: Saturniidae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834
Subfamily: Saturniinae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834
Tribe: Attacini, Blanchard, 1840
Genus: Rothschildia, Grote, 1896

MIDI MUSIC

"Girl from Ipanema"
 midi by Mel Webb

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DISTRIBUTION:

Rothschildia orizaba cauca flies along the western slopes of the Andes in Colombia: Valle del Cauca and Cauca at higher altitudes (1500-2800m) than equatorialis (1-200m). This is one of the biggest of the Rothschildia species.

Males have a very dark deep orange or mahogany colour while the female is ochre to yellow-brown.

The postmedial line is dentate in cauca, but not as dentate as in equatorialis. Hyaline spots breech the postmedial line.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Equatorialis are on the wing during the rainy season for their respective areas and produce multiple broods.

In captivity they will accept several foods but the only one that produced full sized adults was cherry. Privet worked but they did not attain full size.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Like most of the Rothschildia, except for the diurnal zacateca, this species calls and pairs at night.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

It is interesting to watch Rothschildia fashion their cocoons. A strong peduncle with a few support silk strands secures the structure while the larva continues "padding its nest" with a continuous back-and-forth movement of the head.

There are both inner and outer cocoons, each with a relatively long valve to facilitate eclosions.

Larval Food Plants


Listed below are 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.

Ligustrum........
Prunus
Prunus serotina

Privet
Cherry
Wild/Black 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, orizaba, is the name of a large city in the Mexican state of Veracruz.

The subspecies name, cauca, is for the distribution near Valle del Cauca, Colombia.