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Return to Texas Entomology - Compiled by Mike Quinn
Photos not to scale
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(eggs, larvae were reared to third instar on Acacia)
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on Blackbrush Acacia - Acacia rigidula
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The full grown larva reached a size of around 9cm
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The pupa is about 4cm long
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(note the female's white median stripe)
I am an amateur entomologist in my spare time, and I have been living in Rio for six months now. We have noticed huge dark crepuscular moths or butterflies several times in garden and once in the house, and eventually caught one at light in February. It appeared to be female so I put it in a net cage to see if it would produce any ova, and it laid around 80 over two nights. The eggs were small for such a large moth, about 1mm in diameter and grey in colour. They were loosely attached to the netting and easily collected in a plastic box. They were laid 22 and 23 Feb and started to hatch after only five days on 27 Feb. Unfortunately this was mid-week, and I struggled to find anything that they would eat in the time I had available after work. Your list of foodplants is a great deal more comprehensive than my knowledge of Brazilian trees! I tried a number of things that looked leguminous, to no avail. For the record they refused Cassia and Mango. I eventually managed to purchase a small acacia (not sure of the species) on 1 March, but only managed to establish one larva.
When newly hatched the larvae were threadlike loopers about 5mm long, and amazingly fast - they were very difficult to control. I kept the survivor outside (temperatures of 25-35 degrees C) sleeved on the foodplant. The full grown larva reached a size of around 9cm. It had regained the use of its middle sets of claspers and no longer moved like a looper, and was rather tapered at each end. It spent the day hiding at the base of the sleeve and emerged to feed at night, and pupated in a rough cocoon in the folds at the base of the sleeve on 1 April after 33 days.
The pupa is smooth and dark brown, about 4cm long; I would describe it as of rather typical noctuid appearance.
Nick Percival
Rio de Janeiro
April 06, 2008
26 Apr 2008 © Mike Quinn / entomike@gmail.com / Texas Entomology / Texas Leps
