Ctenuchids on banana(?)

[Dr. James Adams]

DEAr listers,

    Ernst Neering has suggested that Graham Dixon's moth on bananas 
is a species in the genus Macrocneme.  I have already sent Graham 
Dixon a personal message suggesting that his moth is a limacodid in 
the genus Acharia (Sibine is a synonym), which includes, in the U.S. 
the Saddleback Caterpillar Moth.  I have worked with a number of 
arctiid moths (including Macrocneme) over the years, and arctiids 
were the subject of my dissertation, but I have recently become very 
interested in limacodids as well.  Graham's description of hairy 
legs, chocolate brown wings with two small white spots, etc. matches 
extremely closely with Acharia stimulea (the moth mentioned above).  
Indeed, in all my travels in the tropics, most species of Acharia are 
almost identical in their coloration.  Virtually all species of 
Macrocneme are black with some kind of greenish irridescence (Graham 
makes no mention of this), and quite wasp-like in form (and Graham 
makes no mention of this, either).  I do agree with Ernst that the 
caterpillar probably just walked on to the bananas, though some 
species of limacodids do feed on large monocots in the tropics.

    Ernst is also correct that if you want a great revision of the 
genus, see Deitz's paper that he mentions.

    James