Graellsia isabellae
Graellsia isabellae | |
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Graellsia isabellae, female | |
Scientific classification | |
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Genus: | Graellsia Grote, 1896
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Species: | G. isabellae
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Binomial name | |
Graellsia isabellae (Graëlls, 1849)
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Distribution of G. isabellae in West Europe | |
Synonyms | |
Actias isabellae |
Graellsia isabellae, is a moth of the silkmoth family Saturniidae, also known as the Spanish moon moth.
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 parental line won't copulate, so it is necessary to take account of this when the moth is bred in captivity. 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 the very hard pine needles. It takes about one and a half months for the caterpillars to reach the last instar. In the last instar the caterpillars go down from the tree to pupate under leaves on the ground. In this stage the pupae in the cocoon overwinter until the next spring.
Host plants
The caterpillar primarily eats the needles of pine trees (genus Pinus). It appears to have difficulty adopting to non-native pine species as a host even within the genus Pinus.
Life cycle
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1st instar
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2nd instar
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3rd instar
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4th instar
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5th instar
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Male - dorsale side -
Male - ventrale △ side -
Female - dorsale side -
Female - ventrale △ side
Sources
- World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1996. Graellsia isabelae. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 31 July 2007.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Wikispecies-logo.svg/34px-Wikispecies-logo.svg.png)
- Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa
- Beccaloni, G.; Scoble, M.; Kitching, I.; Simonsen, T.; Robinson, G.; Pitkin, B.; Hine, A.; Lyal, C., eds. (2003). "Graellsia isabellae". The Global Lepidoptera Names Index. Natural History Museum. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
- Actias isabellae up lepiforum.de