Saturnia (moth) explained

Saturnia is a genus of large silkmoths in the family Saturniidae, which the German biologist Franz von Paula Schrank first described in 1802. Its members are commonly named emperor moths, though this is also used for various close relatives in subfamily Saturniinae. Most species are Palearctic, but three, commonly called "saturnia moths", inhabit the chaparral of California: S. mendocino, S. walterorum, and S. albofasciata.

Species

The known species of Saturnia are:^[1]

• Saturnia albofasciata (Johnson, 1938)  - white-streaked saturnia^[2] (mostly in Calosaturnia)
• Saturnia atlantica Lucas, 1848
• Saturnia bieti Oberthür, 1886
• Saturnia cameronensis Lemaire, 1979
• Saturnia centralis Naumann & Loeffler, 2005
• Saturnia cephalariae (Romanoff, 1885) (sometimes in Eudia)
• Saturnia cidosa Moore, 1865
• Saturnia cognata Jordan in Seitz, 1911
• Saturnia koreanis Brechlin, 2009
• Saturnia luctifera Jordan in Seitz, 1911
• Saturnia mendocino Behrens, 1876  - Mendocino saturnia^[3] (mostly in Calosaturnia)
• Saturnia pavonia (Linnaeus, 1758)  - small emperor moth (sometimes in Eudia)
• Saturnia pavoniella (Scopoli, 1763) (sometimes in Eudia)
• Saturnia pinratanai Lampe, 1989
• Saturnia pyri (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775)  - giant emperor moth, Viennese emperor moth
• Saturnia spini (Denis & Schiffermuller, 1775)  - sloe emperor moth (sometimes in Eudia)
• Saturnia taibaishanis Brechlin, 2009
• Saturnia walterorum Hogue & Johnson, 1958  - Walter's saturnia^[4] (mostly in Calosaturnia)
• Saturnia zuleika Hope, 1843

Formerly placed here was the Brazilian Arsenura pandora. Whether the autumn emperor moth (Perisomena caecigena), here separated in a monotypic genus, is not actually better included in Saturnia needs to be determined; the same goes for the genus Neoris.

References

• Web site: Saturniidae of Europe . April 6, 2007 . A. R. Pittaway.
• Web site: Saturnia Homepage . Wolfgang A. Nässig . November 16, 2006.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Savela . Markku . Saturnia Schrank, 1802 . Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms . November 15, 2018.
2. Web site: White-streaked saturnia moth, Saturnia albofasciata (Johnson, 1938) . Paul A. Opler . Harry Pavulaan . Ray E. Stanford . Michael Pogue (coordinators) . 2006 . Butterflies and Moths of North America . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070207084148/http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=3300 . 2007-02-07. .
3. Web site: Mendocino saturnia moth, Saturnia mendocino Behrens, 1876 . Paul A. Opler . Harry Pavulaan . Ray E. Stanford . Michael Pogue (coordinators) . 2006 . Butterflies and Moths of North America.
4. Web site: Walters' saturnia moth Saturnia walterorum Hogue & Johnson, 1958 . Paul A. Opler . Harry Pavulaan . Ray E. Stanford . Michael Pogue (coordinators) . 2006 . Butterflies and Moths of North America.