Graellsia isabellae

Graellsia isabellae
	Graellsia isabellae, female
Conservation status
	; Data Deficient (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Saturniidae
Genus:	Graellsia; Grote, 1896
Species:	G. isabellae
Binomial name
	Graellsia isabellae; (Graëlls, 1849)
	Distribution of G. isabellae in West Europe
Synonyms
	Actias isabellae; Saturnia isabellae

The Spanish moon moth (Graellsia isabellae) is a moth of the silkmoth family Saturniidae.

Range

The moth is native to Spain and France.

At the end of April and beginning of May the moth begins to hatch after overwintering in the cocoon. Normally moths from the same line don't copulate, so it is the condition that different lines are in a not too wide range. After copulation the female lays about 100 to 150 eggs on the favoured foodplant, pines. The larva hatch after 1 to 1.5 weeks and begin to eat from the very hard pine needles. It takes about 1.5 month to see the last instar of the caterpillars. In the last instar the caterpillars go down from the tree to pupate under leaves on the ground. In this phase the pupae in the cocoon overwinters until next springtime.

Host plants

This moth primarily eats the needles of pine trees (Pinus). It appears to have difficulty adopting non-native pine species as a host even within the Pinus genus.