Urania spp. - Range in Caribbean

[Mike Quinn]

Hugh,

Urania fulgens doesn't occurs in the Caribbean (other than as a rare
stray).

I sent a query to Neal Smith, The Urania guru. He confirmed the ID as U.
leilus. 

Urania on Guadeloupe
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/4499/papillonx8an.jpg

And as for U. leilus' range in the Caribbean, this was Neal's reply:

---------------------------

"Zero. They occur on Trinidad and have reached some of the other islands
but only Trinidad which is essentially part of South America has the
larval food plant for U. leilus.

I am not talking about the resident population of Urania on Cuba which
are quite unlike this. Two possibly three species of Omphalea are found
on Cuba.

Haiti and the Dominican Republic each have a species of Omphalea and it
is the only place in the world where Omphalea occurs and there is no
Uraniid. 

The Urania that used to occur on Jamaica went extinct in the late
1800's. There is a Omphalea there and I have it here [in Panama] as I
have all the Cuban species.

There you have it."

---------------------------

Caribbean map:
http://go.hrw.com/atlas/norm_map/caribean.gif

=====================================================
Subject: RE: Urania Moth Info (was Re: identification)
From: "Hugh McGuinness" <hmcguinness AT ross.org>
Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 15:32:44 -0400


Mike,

What do you know of Urania fulgens' distribution in the Caribbean? I
couldn't find any info on it. So this record could perhaps be a first
island record.

hugh 


 
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