Chrysiridia Rhipheus - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

The Madagascan sunset moth was first described by the British entomologist Dru Drury in 1773 from a specimen obtained from a Captain May of Hammersmith. Because of its resemblance to swallowtail butterflies, Drury described the species as Papilio rhipheus.1 The specimen Drury received had the head of a different species attached, probably that of a butterfly, which had clubbed antennae—this trait is frequently used to differentiate moths from butterflies. Once the inaccuracy in Drury's specimen was found, the moth was placed in the genus Urania, until 1823 when the German entomologist Jacob Hübner placed it in a new genus, Chrysiridia. The moth has also been described under other names. Because Drury described his specimen as having clubbed antennae and being tailless, William Swainson thought it was a different species than the complete specimen described by Cramer. In 1833, Swainson named the butterfly Rhipheus dasycephalus and the moth Leilus orientalis. Other synonyms include U. crameri by Maassen in 1879 and U. ripheus var. madagascariensis by Lesson in 1831.

Native Malagasy people call it Adriandolo or Lolonandriana, from lolo for "spirit" or "butterfly" and andriana for "noble" or "king", therefore meaning "noble butterfly", "noble spirit", "king butterfly" or "king spirit".

The genus Chrysiridia is entirely African and the only other species in the genus is the East African C. croesus. Chrysiridia is one of three diurnal uraniine genera. The other two genera are Urania, its sister taxon, and Alcides, the most basal. In the group, the use of Endospermum is an ancestral state (a plesiomorphy). The more basal Alcides feed on Endospermum and Omphalea, while Urania and Chrysiridia feed only on Omphalea.