Maltagorea auricolor
Updated as per Bouyer's Catalogue of African Saturniidae, 1999, 2004
Updated as per personal conversation with and images from Rodolphe Rougerie, 2005
Updated as per personal communication with Patrick Basquin (Lakato Forest, Moramanga, Madagascar, 1100m); January 17, 2015

Maltagorea auricolor
mal-tuh-GOR-ee-uhMor-ih-KUL-or
(Mabille, 1879) (Saturnia)

Maltagorea auricolor male (copyright protected), Lakato Forest, Moramanga, Madagascar,
1100m, courtesy of Patrick Basquin.

Maltagorea auricolor male (copyright protected), courtesy of Rodolphe Rougerie.

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
Family: Saturniidae Boisduval, [1837] 1834
Subfamily: Saturniinae Boisduval, [1837] 1834
Tribe: Urotini, Packard, 1902
Genus: Maltagorea, Bouyer, 1993

MIDI MUSIC

"African Midi Music"

ON.OFF
<bgsound src="Dafrican.mid" LOOP=FOREVER>

DISTRIBUTION:

Maltagorea auricolor (Mabille, 1879)
(Syntherata) flies in Madagascar.

Thierry Bouyer lists Tagoropsis leporina as synonymous with Maltagorea auricolor, (Mabille, 1879) (Saturnia).

Maltagorea auricolor male, Lakato Forest, Moramanga, Madagascar,
1100m, courtesy of Patrick Basquin.

Maltagorea auricolor male, Lakato Forest, Moramanga, Madagascar,
1100m, courtesy of Patrick Basquin.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Larvae feed upon

Maltagorea auricolor female, courtesy of Rodolphe Rougerie.

Maltagorea auricolor female, Lakato Forest, Moramanga, Madagascar,
1100m, courtesy of Patrick Basquin.

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.

Males show several forms as evidenced in these images courtesy of Rodolphe Rougerie (copyright protected):

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:


Larval Food Plants


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 Maltagorea 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 genus name Maltagorea is a contraction of the Malagassy branch of the Tagoropsis / Pseudantherea group.

Mal from Malagassy Republic (Madagascar);
tago from Tagoropsis:
rea from Pseudantherea

The species name auricolor means the "colour of gold" and refers to the ground colour, which is variable, of this species.