Rothschildia

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rothschildia
Rothschildia maurus, specimen

Rothschildia maurus , specimen

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Family : Peacock moth (Saturniidae)
Subfamily : Saturniinae
Genre : Rothschildia
Scientific name
Rothschildia
Grote , 1896
Rothschildia aurota , specimen
Rothschildia jacobaeae , specimen
Rothschildia erycina
Rothschildia cincta

Rothschildia is a genus of butterflies from the family of the peacock moth (Saturniidae), whose speciesare widespreadin North and South America . The all very similar and very large butterflies have an impressive appearance. The cocoons are attached to the food plants, with a very different design depending on the species. Rothschildia species are sometimes bred by enthusiasts. The pupae of Rothschildia aurota were used commercially for silk production in Brazil.

features

The wingspan of these large peacock moths is 11 to 13 centimeters. The species are relatively similar in color and have an earth-brown basic color. Typical features are the large, translucent, triangular or oval areas on the wings. In addition to these “windows”, the wings have brownish, curled shadows, which are broken by an irregular white line. This runs on the fore and hind wings exactly behind the translucent triangles. The males have somewhat sickle-shaped curved forewings; in some species they can even be very curved. The wings of the females are wider. Both sexes have double-pinnate antennae , but the males have longer pinnate bristles. The difference in length between the sexes, however, is not as great as in the genera Callosamia and Hyalophora .

The caterpillars are initially similar to those of Eupackardia calleta and those of the genus Callosamia . They reach a body length of 65 to 80 millimeters. Some wear segmental light colored rings or bands, transverse stripes, or light longitudinal ribs along the sides. The extensions (scoli) typical of peacock moths are arranged in longitudinal rows, but are very small and do not have stinging hairs . They give them a resemblance to caterpillars of the genus Hyalophora , but they differ from them in that the scoli on the back of the thorax and on the anal horn are not enlarged.

Occurrence and way of life

The genus is neotropically distributed from northern Argentina to the extreme south of the United States of America. The main distribution area is in South America. In the north, the distribution area just extends over the border between Mexico and the United States to Arizona and Texas, where Rothschildia lebeau occurs, for example, in the lower Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas.

The moths fold their wings apart horizontally when at rest. The females usually lay their dirty white eggs in small clutches. Initially, the caterpillars, which go through five stages, live quite gregariously. The cocoons known to date vary from a compact teardrop or calabash shape , as in the two species Rothschildia lebeau and Rothschildia cincta , which are common in the United States, from large, irregular, pendulous cocoons that are more reminiscent of those of Samia cynthia , such as Rothschildia orizaba and the species closely related to it, up to cocoons attached to the food plants, which are reminiscent of those of the genus Hyalophora , such as that of Rothschildia jacobaeae .

Taxonomy and systematics

The genus Rothschildia was established in 1896 by Augustus Radcliffe Grote . Rothschildia jacobaeae (Walker, 1855) is the type species of the genus. It includes around 100 species:

supporting documents

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h P. M. Tuskes, JP Tuttle, MM Collins: The Wild Silkmoths of North America. A Natural History of the Saturniidae of the United States and Canada . Ed .: George C. Eickwort. 1st edition. Cornell University Press, Ithaca / London 1996, ISBN 0-8014-3130-1 , pp. 186 (English).
  2. ↑ http://www.bird-eating-spiders.de/saturniden.htm
  3. ^ A b c d Charles L. Hogue : Latin American Insects and Entomology. , University of California Press, 1993, ISBN 978-0520078499 , pp. 299f.
  4. ^ Catalog of Life. ITIS, accessed December 27, 2010 .
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Ronald Brechlin, Frank Meister (2012a): New taxa of the genus Rothschildia GROTE, 1896 (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) Entomo-Satsphingia 5 (3): Pages 13-37
  6. ↑ a b c d Ronald Brechlin, Frank Meister (2010): Four new taxa of the genus Rothschildia GROTE, 1896 (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae). Entomo-Satsphingia 3 (3): pages 75-82
  7. ↑ Ronald Brechlin, Frank Meister (2012): Rothschildia chrisbrechlinae n. Sp., A new Saturniid from Peru (Lepidoptera). Entomo-Satsphingia 5 (1): pp. 5-7
  8. ^ Rothschildia jacobaeae Walker, 1855 in The Global Lepidoptera Names Index. ( Online  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.nhm.ac.uk  

literature

  • PM Tuskes, JP Tuttle, MM Collins: The Wild Silkmoths of North America. A Natural History of the Saturniidae of the United States and Canada . Ed .: George C. Eickwort. 1st edition. Cornell University Press, Ithaca / London 1996, ISBN 0-8014-3130-1 (English).

Web links

Commons : Rothschildia  - collection of images, videos and audio files