Arsenura armida
| Arsenura armida | |
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| Larvae on Bombacopsis quinata at Rincon de la Vieja, Costa Rica | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Saturniidae |
| Genus: | Arsenura |
| Species: | A. armida |
| Binomial name | |
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Arsenura armida (Cramer, 1779) |
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| Synonyms | |
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The Giant Silk Moth (Arsenura armida) is a moth of the family Saturniidae. It is also known as the Giant Silk Moth. It is found mainly in South and Central America, from Mexico to Bolivia, and Ecuador to south-eastern Brazil.
It is the only known neotropical arsenurine to exhibit a combination of strong aposematism, gregariousness, and trail-following behavior in its larval stage. The larvae are brightly colored, with bright black and yellow bands, which signal their unpleasant taste to birds. The larvae are also fatally poisonous to some species of birds. During the day, the larvae rest in large conspicuous masses on the trunks of trees, and descend at night to feed. When returning at dawn, they follow a silk-less pheromone trail to their original central place location. This social behavior is remarkable for the larvae; other members of the genus live more solitary lives.
The larvae feed on Guazuma ulmifolia, Rollinia membranacea and Bombacopsis quinatum.
After the larva's 4th instar, it will descend from the larval mass, excavate a small chamber in the soil and pupate. Then, shortly after the rainy season in June, the pupa will eclose. The adult form of the species are large brown moths which possess a wingspan of 100–120 mm. The adults will mate the same night they emerge, and afterwards the females will lay their eggs in large batches on the underside tree leaves.
To the indigenous people of the Zongolica area of Veracruz, the larvae are also a form of sustenance; they are gathered and consumed after being cooked.
Arsenura armida is also known as the Giant Silk Moth. It belongs to the subfamily Arsenurinae, consisting of approximately 57 species of Neotropical saturniids found from tropical Mexico to northern Argentina.
The young larvae exhibit aposematism through their bright yellow and black-ringed bodies and red heads. The later instars are darker and “duskier” than early instars. They possess a dark brown head, a soma covered with fine short setae, and black tentacle-like protuberances on the dorsum of the thoracic segments. The intersegmental membrane is colored with thin orange-yellow rings.
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Wikipedia