Animalia > Arthropoda > Insecta > Lepidoptera > Saturniidae > Argema > Argema mimosae

Argema mimosae (African moon moth)

Synonyms: Argema bouvieri; Argema elucidata; Argema occidentalis

Wikipedia Abstract

The African moon moth (Argema mimosae) is a giant silk moth of the Family Saturniidae. Similar in appearance to the giant Madagascan moon moth (Argema mittrei), but smaller, this moth can be found widely in Eastern Africa and more locally in Southern Africa, including near the east coast of South Africa. An adult can measure 10 to 12 centimetres (3.9 to 4.7 in) across its wingspan and 12 to 14 centimetres (4.7 to 5.5 in) from head to the tip of its elongated 'tail-like' second pair of wings. Its forward wings have a distinctive grey-coloured 'furry' leading edge, giving a very rough surface, presumably for aerodynamic reasons. Apart from the eye-like markings on its wings, the colouring and shape of the wings give the appearance of a piece of foliage, especially the 'tail-like' structures
View Wikipedia Record: Argema mimosae

Prey / Diet

Juglans regia (English walnut)[1]
Malosma laurina (laurel sumac)[1]
Sclerocarya birrea caffra (sclerocarya)[1]
Spirostachys africana[1]

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
1HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0