Friday 14 June 2013

Laelia cf. robusta, Janse, 1915

I'm not dead, honest! Just working for minimum wage... so taking as many hours as possible to earn enough to pay rent.

Hopefully you've noticed the cf. (confer, click for wiki to tell you more, Latin, common abbreviation typically meaning that it's similar to the names species, but may not in fact be it). This is largely because the genus Laelia is huge, and I don't have the time just currently to search for an rule out every species. 

However, on the basis that the Laelia moths I have looked at all look quite variable, and in most moths external appearance is quite an important identifying feature, I'm going to venture reasonable confidence that this is in fact Laelia robusta.

So, without further ado, on with the show: 

Eukaryota
  Animalia
    Eumetazoa
      Bilateralia
        Nephrozoa
          Protostomia
            Ecdysozoa
              Arthropoda
                Hexapoda
                  Insecta
                    Dicondylia
                      Pterygota
                        Manopterygota
                          Neoptera
                            Eumetabola
                              Endopterygota
                                Panorpida
                                  Amphiesmenoptera
                                    Lepidoptera
                                      Glossata
                                        Neolepidoptera
                                          Heteroneura
                                            Ditrysia
                                              Cossina
                                                Bombycina
                                                  Noctuoidea
                                                    Erebidae
                                                      Lymantriinae
                                                        Orgyiini

Laelia robusta
Janse, 1915

and here it is:   


Laelia cf robusta, Chongwe, Lusaka, Zambia

 I apologise for the rather characterless portrait - it had a special talent for hiding its face with those spindly forelegs and a vast amount of facial hair. Photographed in Leopard's Hill, Lusaka, Zambia, in March 2013.


NOTES: Species is suggested based on comparison to images of alleged L. robustahere (a flickr image, captured and presumably identified by Geologist Nigel Voaden), and, by its being featured on the apparently reputable Afromoths page for this species, reliably identified). 

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