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I am interested in Neotropical Saturniidae. Starting 1991, I have travelled several times to South American countries collecting saturniids, and especially in Ecuador. I have visited this country four times from 1993 to 1997.

The Ecuadorian Saturniid fauna

The Ecuadorian Saturniidae are a well known regional fauna of the neotropical realm with a total of 275 species recorded. The data represent approximately one third of the total neotropical species.
 

Subfamilies	Number of species of Saturniidae recorded for Ecuador	Percentage of total Ecuadorian Saturniidae species
Arsenurinae	28	10 %
Ceratocampinae	50	18 %
Hemileucinae	179	65 %
Saturniinae	18	7 %
Total	275	100 %

This high species richness is due to the presence of various biomes in such a small area of the country (approximately 280,000 km²).

A total of 267 species were recorded by Lemaire & Venedictoff (1989). In  later years, eight additional species were reported for Ecuador.

It is expected that further faunistical studies on restricted areas of the eastern slope of the Andes will deliver cues to explain the presence and the limits of a transitional zone between the Amazonian and Andean regions.

Selected references

• Lemaire, C. (1977): Biogéographie des Attacidae de l’Equateur (Lepidoptera). Pp. 223–306 in: Descimon, H. (ed.), Biogéographie et evolution en Amérique tropical. — Publ. lab. zool. E., N.S., 9.
• Lemaire, C., & N. Venedictoff (1989): Catalogue and biogeography of the Lepidoptera of Ecuador. I Saturniidae. With a description of a new species of Meroleuca Packard. — Bull. Allyn Mus. 129: 1–60.
• Racheli, L. (1997): On the second known specimen of Rachesa adusta (Rothschild, 1907) from Ecuador (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae, Ceratocampinae). — Atalanta 28 (1/2): 147–148.
• Racheli, L., & T. Racheli (1997): Further notes on the Saturniidae of Ecuador (Lepidoptera, Saturniidae). — Nachr. entomol. Ver. Apollo, N.F., 18 (2/3): 173–180.
• Racheli, L., & T. Racheli (1998): Lepidoptera diversity of an Ecuadorian lowland rain forest. — Abst. XI^th European Congr. Lepid., Malle, Belgium.

List of publications on Saturniidae
(as of November 1998)

Papers on Ecuadorian Saturniidae

• Racheli L. (1994): Some notes on Ecuadorian Saturniidae (Lepidoptera). — Atalanta 25 (1/2): 275–279.
• Racheli L. (1995): Some notes on Ecuadorian Saturniidae II (Lepidoptera, Hemileucinae). — Atalanta 26 (1/2): 291–296.
• Racheli L. (1995): Contributo alla conoscenza dei Saturnidi dell’Ecuador (Lepidoptera, Saturniidae). — Fragm. entomol. 26 (2): 253–258.
• Racheli, L. (1995): Lista preliminare dei Saturnidi di Misahualli, Napo, Ecuador (Lepidoptera, Saturniidae). — Fragm. entomol. 27 (1): 117–144.
• Racheli, L. (1997): On the second known specimen of Rachesa adusta (Rothschild, 1907) from Ecuador (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae, Ceratocampinae). — Atalanta 28 (1/2): 147–148.
• Racheli, L., & T. Racheli (1997): Further notes on the Saturniidae of Ecuador (Lepidoptera, Saturniidae). — Nachr. entomol. Ver. Apollo, Frankfurt am Main, N.F., 18 (2/3): 173–180.
• Racheli, T., & L. Racheli (1998): Lepidoptera diversity of an Ecuadorian lowland rain forest. — Abstr. XI^th European Congr. Lepid., Malle, Belgium.
• Racheli, L., & T. Racheli (1998): A new subspecies of Arsenura thomsoni Schaus, 1906 from Western Amazonia. — Shilap Revta lepid. 26 (101): 67–69.
• Racheli, L., & T. Racheli (1999): The Saturniidae of Tena, Napo Province, Ecuador (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae). — Entomologische Zeitschrift 109 (11): 460–466.

• Racheli L. (1995): A new subspecies of Paradaemonia terrena from Peru (Lepidoptera, Saturniidae, Arsenurinae). — Fragm. entomol. 26 (2): 249–252.
• Racheli, L. (1995): Note sui Saturnidi del Paraguay con la descrizione della femmina di Scolesa hypoxantha Rothschild (Lepidoptera, Saturniidae). — Fragm. entomol. 27 (1): 145–154.
• Racheli, L. (1996): Contributo alla conoscenza dei Saturnidi del Costa Rica (Lepidoptera, Saturniidae). — Est. Mus. Cienc. de Alava 10/11: 223–228.
• Vinciguerra, R., & L. Racheli (1996): Descrizione delle femmine di Arsenura ponderosa guianensis e di Antheraea (Telea) montezuma (Lepidoptera, Saturniidae). — Fragm. entomol. 28 (2): 321–326.
• Racheli, L., & M. C. Callegari (1996): Lista preliminare dei Saturnidi del Dipartimento di Loreto, Perù (Lepidoptera, Saturniidae). — Entomofauna 17 (35): 477–492.
• Racheli, L. (1997): Additional notes on the distribution of Saturniidae in Paraguay (Lepidoptera, Saturniidae). — Nachr. entomol. Ver. Apollo, N.F., 18 (1): 67–74.
• Racheli, L., & M. C. Callegari (1997): A new record of Paradaemonia ruschii from Peru with additions and corrections to the list of the Saturniidae of Loreto (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae). — Atalanta 28 (1/2): 149–151.
• Racheli, L., & R. Vinciguerra (1997): Description of the female of Automeris themis Dognin, 1919. — Nachr. entomol. Ver. Apollo, N.F., 18 (2/3): 307–310.
• Racheli, L., & Racheli, T. (1999): A new subspecies of Automeris larra (Walker, 1855) from western Amazonia (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae, Hemileucinae). — Atalanta 30 (1–4): 175–176, pl. X (396–397).

• Arsenura 1 (1)
• Arsenura 1 (2)
• Arsenura 2 (1)
• Arsenura 2 (2)
• Arsenura 3 (1)
• Arsenura 3 (2)

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