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Updated as per Pinhey's Emperor Moths of South and South-Central Africa, 1972, January 7, 2006 Updated as per Bouyer's Catalogue of African Saturniidae, 1999, January 7, 2006 Updated as per Cooper's The Emperor Moths of KwaZulu-Natal, 2002, January 7, 2006 Updated as per personal correspondence with and images from Thierry Bouyer, May 2006 |
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 |
"African Midi Music" |
DISTRIBUTION:The Gold-marbled Emperor, Tagoropsis flavinata (wingspan: 70-90mm), flies in South Africa (up to 900m) and along the east coast to at least Kenya as subspecies septentrionalis Julius Busingye reports it from Uganda, possibly in error. It is probably subspecies septentrionalis that flies from Mozambique northwards.Thierry Bouyer, 1999, equates this moth with Tagoropsis natalensis Felder, 1874. Tagoropsis flavinata male, courtesy of Thierry Bouyer. |  |
ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:Females emit an airbourne pheromone at night and males track the scent with their antennae by flying in a zigzag pattern into the wind.Tagoropsis flavinata female, courtesy of Thierry Bouyer. |  |
Pale yellow eggs are small and oval and are deposited in tiers on foliage and twigs. Incubation is relatively slow, taking from 20-23 days.Larvae are gregarious, hiding low on the stem during the day, moving head to tail up the stem to foliage at night. Mature larvae are 75mm long. They pupate amongst leaf litter. Shiny, dark pupae have a cremaster about 2-4cm long. Moths eclose at night. Larval Food PlantsListed 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 sites. 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.
Return to Tagoropsis genus Return to Main Index 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.
The species name, 'flavinata', means 'yellow marked' (Pinhey).
 Tagoropsis flavinata male, Cooper and Cooper, my home computer only.
Tagoropsis flavinata larva, Cooper and Cooper, my home computer only.
Tagoropsis flavinata pupa, Cooper and Cooper, my home computer only.
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