Bunaeopsis hersilia ( Westwood, 1849 )

Mbata, Keith J. & Prins, Jurate De, 2023, Annotated checklist of moths of Zambia (Insecta: Lepidoptera), Zootaxa 5354 (1), pp. 1-503 : 148-149

Bunaeopsis hersilia ( Westwood, 1849)

COMMON NAME (S): Saturniid. SYNONYM(S): Eochroa dido Maassen & Weymer, 1881 ; Nudaurelia rendalli Rothschild, 1897a ; Nudaurelia editha Wichgraf,

1914; Nudaurelia elisa Wichgraf, 1914 ; Bunaea nigericola Strand, 1916 ; Nudaurelia hersilioides De Fleury, 1924 ;

Nudaurelia rendalliana Gaede, 1927 ; Bunaeopsis pagei Rougeot, 1962 . IUCN STATUS: Not Evaluated (NE).

DISTRIBUTION: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo,

Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Sudan, Sudan,

Togo, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

LOCALITY IN ZAMBIA: Chililabombwe in Copperbelt Province ; Kopa and Mpika in Muchinga Province; Solwezi and Mwinilunga in Northwestern Province.

LARVAL HOSTPLANT(S): Host plants include: one Poaceae species ( Pennisetum purpureum Schumach. ) in Nigeria; two Sapotaceae species ( Chrysophyllum sp. , and Englerophytum sp. ), one Annonaceae species ( Annona senegalensis

Pers.), one Irvingiaceae species ( Irvingia sp. ) and two Poaceae species ( Hyparrhenia contracta Robyns and Hyparrhenia bracteate (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Stapf ) in unnamed countries in Africa . No larval foodplants or host plants of the taxon have been named for Zambia.

SOURCES: African Moths 2019; Aurivillius 1905 ; De Prins & De Prins 2022; Pinhey 1972b; Rougeot 1962.