''Attacus taprobanis'' is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

of family

Saturniidae Saturniidae, commonly known as saturniids, is a family of Lepidoptera with an estimated 2,300 described species. The family contains some of the largest species of moths in the world. Notable members include the emperor moths, royal moths, and gi ...

. It is native to

southern India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territ ...

and Sri Lanka. This

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

is very similar in morphology to the much more widely distributed ''

Attacus atlas ''Attacus atlas'', the Atlas moth, is a large saturniid moth endemic to the forests of Asia. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. Description The Atlas moth is one of the largest ...

''. It was once considered a subspecies of ''A. atlas''.

Description

''Attacus taprobanis'' is typically darker than ''A. atlas''. The hyaline spots are slightly smaller. The hyaline streak on the forewing is smaller, and often absent in males. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan o ...

about 170–220 mm, is probably the second largest after ''A. atlas''. File:Attacus taprobanis-Kadavoor-2018-08-06-001.jpg, Larva (early instar) File:Attacus taprobanis by Balakrishnan Valappil (5959648133).jpg, Larva (head) File:Attacus taprobanis-Kadavoor-2018-06-05-001.jpg, Larva File:Attacus taprobanis-Kadavoor-2018-06-13-001.jpg, Cocoon File:Attacus taprobanis-Kadavoor-2018-07-13-003.jpg, Imago (head) File:AttacusAtlasWyn.jpg, Imago (male) File:Attacus taprobanis-Kadavoor-2018-07-13-001.jpg, Imago (female) File:Attacus taprobanis-Kadavoor-2018-07-11-002.jpg, Mating pair File:Attacus atlas London Zoo 01118-2.jpg, ''

'', another similar species File:Atlas_Moth-Attacus_taprobanis_05.jpg

Ecology

The larvae feed on various bushes and trees including ''

Aglaia roxburghiana ''Aglaia roxburghiana'' is a species of ''Aglaia''. It is native to South Asia and Australia. References roxburghiana Flora of tropical Asia Flora of Australia {{Meliaceae-stub ...

'', '' Berberis asiatica'', ''

Berberis thunbergii ''Berberis thunbergii'', the Japanese barberry, Thunberg's barberry, or red barberry, is a species of flowering plant in the barberry family Berberidaceae, native to Japan and eastern Asia, though widely naturalized in China and North America, w ...

'', ''

Berberis vulgaris ''Berberis vulgaris'', also known as common barberry, European barberry or simply barberry, is a shrub in the genus ''Berberis'' native to the Old World. It produces edible but sharply acidic berries, which people in many countries eat as a tar ...

'', ''

Cinnamomum ''Cinnamomum'' is a genus of evergreen aromatic trees and shrubs belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The species of ''Cinnamomum'' have aromatic oils in their leaves and bark. The genus contains approximately 250 species, distributed in ...

'', '' Cinnamomum camphora'', ''

Cinnamomum zeylanicum ''Cinnamomum verum'', called true cinnamon tree or Ceylon cinnamon tree, is a small evergreen tree belonging to the family Lauraceae, native to Sri Lanka. The inner bark of several other ''Cinnamomum'' species are also used to make cinnamon, ...

'' and ''

Ligustrum A privet is a flowering plant in the genus ''Ligustrum''. The genus contains about 50 species of erect, deciduous or evergreen shrubs, sometimes forming small or medium-sized trees, native to Europe, north Africa, Asia, many introduced and nat ...

''. Adult moths do not take foods and survive on fat they have stored from their larval period, the females sitting most calm and emitting pheromones, that the active males can notice from a distance.

References

{{Taxonbar , from=Q2318052 Saturniidae Moths of Asia Lepidoptera of India Moths of Sri Lanka Taxa named by Frederic Moore Moths described in 1882