Pseudobunaea irius ( Fabricius, 1793 )

Mbata, Keith J. & Prins, Jurate De, 2023, Annotated checklist of moths of Zambia (Insecta: Lepidoptera), Zootaxa 5354 (1), pp. 1-503 : 171-172

Pseudobunaea irius ( Fabricius, 1793)

COMMON NAME (S): Poplar Emperor. SYNONYM(S): Lobobunaea bispecularis Aurivillius, 1925b . IUCN STATUS: Not Evaluated (NE). DISTRIBUTION: Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Gambia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia , Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Senegal, South Africa,

Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

LOCALITY IN ZAMBIA: Kasama, in Northern Province; Mpika and Isoka, in Muchinga Province; Lusaka, in Lusaka Province. LARVAL HOSTPLANT(S): Larval foodplants include: four Fabaceae species ( Bauhinia sp. , Pterocarpus tinctorius Welw. , Erythrina lysistemon Hutch. and Acacia mearnsii De Wild. ), three Caesalpiniaceae species ( Brachystegia spiciformis Benth. , B. randii Baker f. and Bauhinia thonningii Schum. ), one Salicaceae species

( Populus deltoides Marshall ), four species of Myrtaceae ( Eucalyptus sp. , E. fastigata H.Deane &

Maiden, E. macarthurii H.Deane & Maiden and E. nitens (H.Deane & Maiden) Maiden ), one species of Leguminosae ( Pseudoberlinia paniculata (Benth.) J. Duvign. ), one Phyllanthaceae species ( Uapaca nitida M̧ll.Arg.), one Cupressaceae subspecies ( Cupressus arizonica Greene ), six Pinaceae species

( Pinus caribaea Morelet , P. devoniana Lindl. , P. montezumae Lamb. , P. patula Schiede ex Schltdl. &

Cham., P. pseudostrobus Lindl. and Pinus radiata D.Don ) and one Fagaceae species ( Quercus palustris

M̧nchh.) in South Africa ( Pinhey 1972b; van den Berg 1973; Oberprieler 1995); one Fabaceae species

( Julbernardia globiflora (Benth.) Troupin ) in Zimbabwe ( Oberprieler 1995) and one Fabaceae species

( Julbernardia paniculata (Benth.) Troupin ) and one Phyllanthaceae species ( Uapaca nitida M̧ll.Arg.) in unnamed country or countries in Africa ( Rougeot 1955) . Without naming countries, African Moths webpage (2019) lists the following host plants for the taxon: five Fabaceae species ( Bauhinia reticulata DC. , Julbernardia globiflora (Benth.) Troupin , J. paniculata (Benth.) Troupin , Pterocarpus delevoyi Welw. and P. tinctorius Welw. ), one Pinaceae species ( Pinus patula Schiede ex Schltdl. & Cham. ), one Salicaceae species ( Populus deltoides Marshall ), one Caesalpiniaceae species ( Brachystegia spiciformis Benth. ) and one Phyllanthaceae species ( Uapaca nitida M̧ll.Arg.). No specific host plants re named for Zambia in the literature, but since some of the named plant species also occur in Zambia, it can be assumed that the taxon uses them as host plants where both the taxon and plant species occur in the country.

SOURCES: African Moths 2019; De Prins & De Prins 2022; Oberprieler 1995; Pinhey 1972b; Rougeot 1955; van den Berg 1973.