Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Horama panthalon (Fabricius, 1793)
Mastigocera tibialis Butler, 1876
Horama serena Schaus, 1924
Horama stoneri Lindsey, 1926
Horama tibialis
Callicarus texanus Grote, 1866
Zygaena panthalon Fabricius 1793
The North American subspecies is Horama panthalon texana.
Phylogenetic Sequence # 930465
Numbers
Lafontaine & Schmidt (2010) listed two species of the genus
Horama in America north of Mexico.
(1)Size
The wingspan is 32-34 mm.
Identification
Abdomen purplish/brown/black with many orange rings, hind legs black and orange with a large feathering on the
tibiae (males
(2)*), antennae black with orange tips, thorax and head black with orange and white markings, wings brown.
Some examples lack the orange abdominal bands
(3)
Thought to be a Batesian mimic of paper wasps,
Polistes species
(4).
*Sexual dimorphism in tibial scales not mentioned by Dietz and Duckworth
(5), and they say males and females are similar.
Range
c. TX to S. Amer., strays from AZ to FL -
Map (MPG)
Habitat
Usually found on flowers, esp.
Eupatorium (3)Season
Moth Photographers Group - large map with some distribution data.
(6) Life Cycle
Caterpillar and larval food unrecorded (almost). "Adult has been collected at Wislizenia refracta var. mamillata (Capparidaceae)"
(5). That plant is called " jackass-clover or spectacle fruit". One record of caterpillar on Desert Yaupon,
Schaefferia cuneifolia, (Celastraceae)--see
iNaturalist.
Remarks
Common to abundant in southmost Texas
(3).
Verification needed that only males have tufts of hair-like scales on tibiae--all images to date seem to have this feature, and some of these have more plumose antennae than others, indicating both sexes are being seen--
Patrick Coin 4 February 2021.
Horama panthalon panthalon (Panama, north Colombia, north Venezuela and the Antilles)
Horama panthalon texana (Grote, 1868) (south Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Florida, Mexico and Guatemala)
Horama panthalon viridifusca (Schaus, 1904) (south Brazil, north Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay)
Print References
Covell, p. 77 plate 11-17
(8)
Eaton and Kaufman, pp. 262-263
(9)
Powell, J.A. & P.A. Opler, 2009. Moths of Western North America. p. 274, pl. 49.8.
(10)
