CITHERONIA SPLENDENS SINALOENSIS
(C. C. HOFFMANN, 1942)

Citheronia splendens sinaloensis on Sweetgum. Image composited and transformed by Bill Oehlke

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TAXONOMY: Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802 Family: Saturniidae, Boisduval, [1837] 1834 Subfamily: Ceratocampinae, Harris, 1841 was Citheroniinae: Neumoegen & Dyar, 1894 Genus: Citheronia, Hübner, 1819 Species: splendens sinaloensis, Hoffmann, 1942

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DISTRIBUTON:

Citheronia splendens sinaloensis (wingspan 10.5-15.0cm) is primarily a Mexican species, sometimes found in southern Arizona. The moth tends to fly in desert arroyos where manzita and wild cotton are found.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Citheronia splendens sinaloensisi fly from early July to mid-August. Larvae prefer wild cotton and manzita but accept sweetgum, walnut and sumac species.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Adults emerge from 9:00-11:00 P.M..

Females generally call after midnight with most pairings initiated between 1:00 and 3:30 A.M.. Separation occurs the following evening when females begin their ovapositing flights. Both sexes come to lights, but females much less readily than males.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS, AND PUPAE:

Yellowish eggs (2mm) are deposited either singly or in groups of up to four on upper and under surfaces of hostplant foliage. Incubation lasts 7-10 days with larvae becoming visible through transparent eggshells a day or so before emergence. Long thoracic spines are well developed at emergence as evidenced by five day old larva to the right on Staghorn sumac ( Rhus typhina). Container reared larvae tended to leave foliage when not feeding to fasten a silk pad to the side of the container. When disturbed, the larvae thrash the thorax rapidly from side to side.

Larvae move into the second instar within a week and lose the brown saddle, but spines remain well-developed. With all the spines, the larvae must have a good anchor when moulting. As this larva moved from the second to the third instar, it had difficulty moving out of its old skin.

The dead skin got hung up around the last three abdminal segments just before the claspers, and I had to pick at the dead skin to free the larva. Failure to do so would have resulted in the skin drying and eventually restricting movement and intestinal processes. Thoracic horns now have some yellow.

Citheronia larvae are able to assimilate food extremely well and growth is rapid with relatively few droppings. This early fourth instar larva on staghorn sumac has lost its long black anal "spike" and shows a generally lightening of colour, especially noticeable around spiracles. Length at this point is slightly over two inches.

Larvae (up to 15 cm long) are solitary nighttime feeders in early stages when they curl up in a "j" shaped pattern during the day and resemble bird droppings. In later instars larvae also feed during the day and grow very rapidly.

Photo courtesy of Mark Deering.

Listed below are primary food plant(s) and alternate food plants listed in Stephen E. Stone's Foodplants of World Saturniidae. 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.

Arbutus menziesii Arctostaphylus pungens Carya glabra Gossypium thurberi Juglans nigra Juglans regia Liquidambar straciflua..... Pistacia lentiscus Rhus choriophylla Rhus laurina Rhus typhina Schinus molle

Pacific madrone Pointleaf manzita Pignut hickory Arizona wild cotton Black walnut English walnut Sweetgum mastic tree Sumac Laurel sumac Staghorn sumac California peppertree

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