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Orizaba Silk Moth

Rothschildia orizaba

Photo by LaurenZarate
Published on Project Noah
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16.7354, -92.6387

Field Notes

Description:

This amazingly huge moth is called "Cuatro Ventanas" (Four Windows) in Spanish and had a 16 cm wingspan! It was a female and also a bit frayed on the wing edges, which I hope means she had already laid many eggs.
Family Saturniidae.

Habitat:

Came to an ultraviolet light in the garden, San Cristobal de Las Casas, 2,200 meters.

Notes:

http://www.pbase.com/image/109509580
http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=7762
http://www.leps.sk/SLOVENSKA%20VERZIA/Lepidoptera/Saturnidae/Rothschild…
http://conabio.inaturalist.org/taxa/312126-Rothschildia-orizaba-orizaba
http://androxa.wordpress.com/2011/02/26/the-butterfly-warrior/

Reference Links:

Rothschildia orizaba (Augenspinner)Kopula3.2.jpg

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (2)
LaurenZarate
Thank you Bill :) See this neat reference to an Aztec Butterfly Warrior that is supposedly based on the species Rothschildia orizaba…http://androxa.wordpress.com/2011/02/26/the-butterfly-warrior/.
BillOehlke
I am pretty sure this is not a lebeau subspecies. It is a female Rothschildia roxana or Rothschildia orizaba. The elevation is more indicative of orizaba but colouration is closer to roxana. I think I would have to go with a tentative orizaba. Bill Oehlke

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Photographed
PublishedAugust 12, 2014

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