Date seen: 22 March
Province: Eastern Cape
Nearest town: East London
Locality: Suburban garden in Cambridge
Interesting observation notes, etc: It was found on/near our cycad and first thought it would be a Callioratis based on the pic here:
www.lepsoc.org.za/Endangered-Lepidoptera...lars-tiger-moth.html
...and our limited knowledge
I imagine it has laid many eggs on the plant and we have decided to watch closely for lavae which we will photograph.

Here is the plant the specimen was found on. I cannot confirm if the egg sack in the bottom photo is from this specimen. There are a number of these on the plant (some old) and we will be watching them closely:

Hi Ed,

I got the following reply.

That would be a female Callioratis abraxas Felder & Rogenhofer, 1874.

Cheers,
Justin

Thanks Justin, your help is much appreciated!
Looking online, I found this (it looks old!):


According to that, C. Abraxis #17. I would be inclined to think it's more like #18 - It looks like the name is 'Callioratis Boisduvalii'. Perhaps names have changed since?

In some places they have spelled it Biosduvalii, which I assume is a misspelling. Since it is named after Jean Baptiste Boisduval.
luirig.altervista.org/cpm/thumbnails.php?album=48&page=206

I can't seem to find a Callioratis anywhere in the field guide or on the virtual museum... hopefully it will be there next month

For those interested, the six Callioratis sp. are:
C. abraxas · C. abraxis · C. apicisecta · C. boisduvalii · C. grandis · C. millari


And as additional confirmation, Ernest Pringle kindly replied to an email today:

Your Tiger Moth is Callioratis abraxis abraxis, which is widespread along our eastern seaboard, whereever cycads occur. This specimen is a female; the male is a lvoely silvery color, with orange bands on the forewing. All the Tigher Moths are rare, becaue cycads (their foodplant) tend to be rare and localised. However, it would appear that East London does seem to have reasonable populations of abraxis, as all the specimens I have got come from there.

Apparently boisduvalii is a junior synonym

Hi Ed,

I recieved the following from Herman Staude who has done an enormous amount of work on Geometidae Moths and is probally the person best qualified to give information on this.

Hi Justin,



Thanks for copying me. I would appreciate if you could communicate the following to the forum:



I read the comment-train with interest and found a number of inconsistencies and errors. I am glad that people did, however, manage to find so much about these moths on the web and that they are taking an interest in them. Perhaps the following will clarify things.


The genus Callioratis (Diptychinae, Geometridae) update and current status:



The picture posted is indeed of a female Dimorphic Tiger Moth, Callioratis abraxas Felder, 1874. (I would appreciate if exact coordinates of the find could be communicated to me). I enclose pictures of the adults, set and live, as well as of the larvae of C. abraxas. Yes, they do lay their eggs on cycads (as do all species of Callioratis) and the larvae feed on the leaves for at least the first three instars after which they may move off the cycads and feed on a number of other plants. The picture of what is thought to be an egg 'sack' is not that. Callioratis abraxas females lay their eggs in small clusters on the underside of the cycad leaves. I enclose a picture of such a cluster of Callioratis grandis, which has a similar habit to that of C abraxas. The eggs turn black after about one week. The dimorphic tiger moth occurs widely in forest habitats wherever sufficient numbers of wild cycads still occur along the eastern side of South Africa. I enclose a distribution map of South African Callioratis spp. printed from Lepidops. The resolution is to a quarter degree accuracy.



In my 2001 revision of the genus I recognised five species and one sub-species of Callioratis: Callioratis abraxas abraxas Felder, 1874; Callioratis abraxas grandis Prout,1922; Callioratis apicisecta Prout,1915; Callioratis millari Hampson,1905; Callioratis mayeri Staude,2001; Callioratis curlei Staude,2001.



Callioratis abraxis is a misspelling. Callioratis boisduvalii was the name given by Felder, 1874 for the female of Callioratis abraxas as seen in the illustration shown by the Forum. This name is now regarded as a synonym of C. abraxas. In fact Felder did not offer any description of any kind and the Genus Callioratis as well as the species is based on this illustration. A type was later designated, probably by Prout who first recognised in 1915 that this was the female of C. abraxas.



Since Staude,2001 we (myself accompanied by Alf Curle) discovered another species in the KZN Drakensberg: Callioratis drakensbergensis­ (manuscript name) Staude in prep. WE (myself accompanied by Ray Murphy) also found the previously unknown males of the mulanje tiger moth at the Likhubula mission, Mulanje, Malâwi. The differences in the male androconial organs show that this taxon is indeed a full species Callioratis grandis and not a sub-species of Callioratis abraxas as previously thought ( Staude, in prep.).



I enclose a picture of the full complement of Callioratis species as known today. The caption to this picture is from left to right and down like normal text:



C. abraxas Felder,1874 - male [South Africa]; C. abraxas Felder,1874 - female (originally as C boisduvalii)[South Africa]; C. apicisecta Prout,1915 [Sudan, Kenya]; C. curlei Staude,2001 [South Africa]; C. drakensbergensis Staude, in prep. [South Africa]; C. grandis Prout,1922 - male [Malâwi]; C. grandis Prout,1922 - female [Malâwi]; C. mayeri Staude,2001 [South Africa]; C. millari Hampson, 1905 [South Africa].





Callioratis millari is today known only from one locality and is probably the most endangered moth in South Africa. All Callioratis species are threatened as they fully depend on the health of dwindling wild cycad populations.

regards,





Hermann Staude




Cheers,
Justin

Wow, thats some stunning information, thank you Herman and Justin. I will keep my eyes open for the eggs ,but looking at those pictures, I believe we may have seen the larvae before, but I don't recall ever seeing the moth other than this one specimen.

The coordinates for this find are:
32°58'40.73"S
27°53'31.06"E

Here it is on Google Earth

I've also attached a pic of some eggs I found on the plant today. According to my estimate, I imagine she laid her eggs roughly a week and one day ago (Sunday 21st) - judging by the condition she was in when we found her on the 22nd. I'm not sure if that means these eggs couldn't possibly be from that specimen or that is a possibility. I checked the plant thoroughly and can't find any other eggs.

I'm not sure if the older 'fronds' are actually edible to the young larvae - the only trouble we have had with the plant being eaten is when new fronds grow - usually in spring if I recall.