''Citheronia splendens'', the splendid royal moth, 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 the 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 found from southern

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

south into central and south-eastern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. The species was first described by

Herbert Druce Herbert Druce, FLS (14 July 1846, in London – 11 April 1913, in London) was an English entomologist. His collections were acquired by Frederick DuCane Godman (1834–1919), Osbert Salvin (1835–1898), and James John Joicey (1870–1932) b ...

in 1886. 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 ...

is . Adults are on wing from July to August.

Life cycle

Females lay

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

in groups of 1 to 4 on sides of a

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...

s leaves. The caterpillars look like

bird droppings Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. ...

and spend majority of their life cycle on leaves, feeding on them in the evening. When the caterpillars mature they start feeding during the day as well by eating leaf petioles or stems. Their

hosts A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it. Host may also refer to: Places *Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County People *Jim Host (born 1937), American businessman *Michel Host ( ...

are typically ''

Gossypium thurberi ''Gossypium thurberi'', also known as Arizona wild cotton, Thurber's cotton, or desert cotton, is a wild species of cotton. Description Their flowers are not showy, but the palm-shaped green leaves turn maroon in autumn.Fryxell, P. A. 1976. A no ...

'', ''

Rhus trilobata ''Rhus trilobata'' is a shrub in the sumac genus ('' Rhus'') with the common names skunkbush sumac, sourberry, skunkbush, and three-leaf sumac. It is native to the western half of Canada and the Western United States, from the Great Plains to ...

'', ''

Arctostaphylos pungens ''Arctostaphylos pungens'', with the common name pointleaf manzanita, is a species of manzanita. It is native to the Southwestern United States and to northern and central Mexico, where it grows in chaparral and woodland habitats, and on desert ...

'' and '' Rhus choriophylla''. In September, they burrow underground where they enter into their

pupa A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in thei ...

stage. When pupa stage is done, the species turn into a moth.

Subspecies

*''Citheronia splendens splendens'' (Jalisco, México, Guerrero and Chiapas) *''Citheronia splendens sinaloensis'' Hoffmann, 1942 (central and northwestern Mexico, south-eastern Arizona) *''Citheronia splendens queretana'' Vázquez-G., 1944 (Mexico)

References

Ceratocampinae Moths described in 1886 {{Saturniidae-stub