Rothschildia xanthina paraxanthina
roths-CHILD-ee-uhmmzan-THEE-nuhmmpah-ruh-zan-THEE-nuh
Brechlin & Meister, 2010

Rothschildia xanthina paraxanthina male, courtesy of Hubert Mayer copyright,
id by Bill Oehlke.

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

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DISTRIBUTION:

Rothschildia xanthina paraxanthina (wingspan: males: mm; females: mm; forewing length: males: 76-78mm; females: 73mm) flies in
Bolivia: Cochabamba (2500m); La Paz (1000-1800m).

Grond colour is not as orangey as in R. xanthina, nor as brown as in R. interaricia.

I have determined the specimen at top of page, courtesy of Hubert Mayer, to be R. xanthina paraxanthina mostly because of the shape of the pm line, which is inwardly angled above the hyaline area and turns outward toward the apex at its juncture with the costa.

I also note that the lower section of the am line has a slight undulation just below its apex, whereas the same section of the am line in R. xanthina is straight.

The pm line in the female is very straight and much more distant from the outer margin.

The "Aricia Group" now (2012) consists of the following species:
aricia aricia; Colombia and northwestern Venezuela: Merida, Trujillo, Aragua, Carabobo, Yaracuy;
aricia napoecuadoriana; Ecuador: Napo, Morona Santiago;
aricia ariciopichinchensis; Ecuador: Pichincha;
interaricia; Peru: Huanuco, Pasco, Junin, Amazonas;
xanthina xanthina; Peru: Cusco;
xanthina paraxanthina; Bolivia: Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, La Paz.

Members of this group may be hard to determine by just looking at images. Geography might be the best indicator.

Rothschildia aricia aricia

Roths. aricia napoecuadoriana

Roths. aricia ariciopichinchensis

Rothschildia interaricia

Roths. xanthina paraxanthina

Rothschildia xanthina xanthina

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Specimens have been taken in Bolivia in December (Mirror). There are probably additional flight months.

Foodplants are unknown.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Males use their more highly developed antennae to seek out females who release an airbourne pheromone into the night sky.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Eggs are deposited in clusters of 6-40+ on hostplant twigs. Larvae have urticating spines and are gregarious, especially in the early instars.

Larval Food Plants

It is hoped that this alphabetical listing followed by the common name of the anticipated 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.

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

The species name "xanthina paraxanthina" is indicative of great similarity to .

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