''Urania boisduvalii'' is a day-flying
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
Uraniidae. It was first described by
Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville in 1829.
A genetic analysis of ''Urania'' moths gave rise to a phylogenetic tree which places ''U. boisduvalii'' as sister to the in-group that includes ''U. fulgens'' spp. ''poeyi, U. fulgens, U. sloanus, U. sloanus, U. leilus and U. leilus'' spp. ''brasiliensis''.
Distribution
''Urania boisduvalii'' is found in
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
.
Unlike ''
Urania poeyi'', which is found only in the eastern part of Cuba, this species is found throughout the island.
[Clutch size variation in ''Urania boisduvalii'']
''Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society'' 60(4), 2006, 227–228 It has been proposed that ''U. bosiduvalii'' is a migratory species. Computer generated migratory routes predict that migratory groups fly mainly along the western and eastern coast lines, because of plant distributions.
Usually, ''U. bosiduvalii'' lay individual eggs on separate leaves, but they have been known to lay egg clutches too. The specialist larvae of this species feed on ''
Omphalea hypoleuca'' and ''
Omphalea trichotoma''.
[Texas Entomology - ''Urania'' Natural History]
/ref> The larvae will feed on the leaves, but prefer the fruit of ''O. trichotoma''. The leaves of ''Omaphalea'' spp. contain compounds that are toxic to most herbivores, but ''U. boisduvalli'' caterpillars can tolerate and metabolize the toxins. As adults, the toxins are protection against predators, like birds.[Lian Chen, Xiao-Yun Wang, Wen Lu, Xia-Lin Zheng, Sexual communication in diurnal moths: behaviors and mechanisms, International Journal of Tropical Insect Science, 10.1007/s42690-020-00174-z, (2020).]
References
External links
*
''NABA South Texas''.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q13536446
Uraniidae
Moths described in 1829
Endemic fauna of Cuba