Actias

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Panorpida
Cladus: Amphiesmenoptera
Ordo: Lepidoptera
Subordo: Glossata
Cladus: Coelolepida
Cladus: Myoglossata
Cladus: Neolepidoptera
Infraordo: Heteroneura
Cladus: Eulepidoptera
Cladus: Ditrysia
Cladus: Apoditrysia
Cladus: Obtectomera
Cladus: Macroheterocera
Superfamilia: Bombycoidea

Familia: Saturniidae
Subfamilia: Saturniinae
Tribus: Saturniini
Genus: Actias
Species:
felicis Species Group

Species: A. angulocaudata – A. australovietnama – A. chrisbrechlinae – A. felicis – A. guangxiana – A. kongjiaria – A. laotiana – A. neidhoeferi – A. peggyae – A. rasa – A. shaanxiana – A. uljanae – A. vanschaycki – A. winbrechlini
maenas Species Group

Species: A. groenendaeli – A. ignescens – A. isis – A. maenas – A. philippinica
selene Species Group

Species: A. gnoma – A. ningpoana – A. selene
unknown Species Group

A. aliena – A. apollo – A. arianeae – A. artemis – A. brevijuxta – A. chapae – A. dubernardi – A. dulcinea – A. heterogyna – A. laovieta – A. luna – A. parasinensis – A. seitzi – A. sinensis – A. truncatipennis – A. witti – A. xenia
Name

Actias Leach, 1815 in Leach & Nodder

Type species: Phalaena luna Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms

Echidna Hübner, [1807] (preocc. Echidna Forster, 1788 (Pisces)).
Tropaea Hübner, [1819]
Meceura Billberg, 1820
Artemis Kirby & Spence, 1828
Plectropteron Hutton, 1846 (repl. Echidna Hübner, [1807]).
Argema Wallengren, 1858
Angas Wallengren, 1865
Sonthonnaxia Watson, 1913
Proactias Arora & Gupta, 1979

References

Brechlin, R. 2000c. Eine neue Art der Gattung Actias Leach, 1815 aus Südvietnam: Actias australovietnama n. sp. (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae). Nachrichten des Entomologischen Vereins Apollo N.F. 21(1): 33–37.Reference page.
Brechlin, R., 2007, Actias witti, a new saturniid from the Little Andamans (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae), Entomofauna Monographie 1: 50–55.
Brechlin, R. 2007e. Fünf neue Taxa der Gattung Actias Leach, 1815 aus China (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae). Entomofauna M1: 12–27. full article (PDF). Reference page.
Brechlin, R., 2012: six new species of the genus Actias Leach, 1815 fron South-East Asia. (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae). Entomo-Satsphingia 5 (3): 41–51.
Brechlin, R. 2013. Zwei neue Taxa der Gattung Actias Leach, 1815 aus China (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae).. Entomo-Satsphingia 6(1): 8–13. Reference page.
Brechlin, R. & Saldaitis, A. 2016. A new species in the genus Actias Leach, 1815 from China (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae). Entomo-Satsphingia 9(2): 34–39. Reference page.
Brechlin, R. 2017. Eine neue Art der Gattung Actias LEACH, 1815 aus Tibet (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae). Entomo-satsphingia 10(1): 5–7 Reference page.
Kishida, Y., 2000: A new subspecies of Actias groenendaeli Roepke, 1954 (Lepidoptera, Saturniidae) from Sumba I., Indonesia. Transactions of the Lepidopterological Society of Japan 52(1): 11–12. Abstract and full article: [1].
Nässig, W.A., 1994: Notes on the systematics of the maenas-group of the genus Actias Leach 1815 (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae). Nachrichten des Entomologischen Vereins Apollo N.F. 15 (3): 327–338.
Nässig, W.A. & R. Brechlin, 1996: Designation of the lectotype of Actias chapae Mell, 1950 (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae). Nachrichten Entomologischen Vereins Apollo (N.F.) 16(2/3): 309–310.
Nässig, W.A. & C.G. Treadaway, 1998: The Saturniidae (Lepidoptera) of the Philippines. Nachrichten des Entomologischen Vereins Apollo Supplement 17: 223–424.
Naumann, S. & T. Bouyer, 1998: Actias angulocaudata new species, a new Saturniid from China (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae). Entomologische Zeitschrift 108 (6): 224–231.
Paukstadt, U. & Paukstadt, L.H., 1999: Actias selene taprobanis n. subsp., eine neue Saturniide von Sri Lanka und Südindien (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae). Galathea Berichte des Kreises Nürnberger Entomologen eV Suppl. 6: 59–71.
Paukstadt, U. & Paukstadt, L.H. 2014. Ein neuer wilder Seidenspinner vom Banggai-Archipel, Indonesien: Actias isis pelengensis subsp. nov. (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae). Beiträge zur Kenntnis der wilden Seidenspinner 12(2): 66–82. Reference page.
Sochivko, A.V. & Ivshin, N.V., 2008: A new subspecies of Actias chapae Mell, 1950 from southern Vietnam (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae). Nachrichten des Entomologischen Vereins Apollo NF 29 (1/2): 71–75.
Zolotuhin, V.V., 2011: The Actias Leach, 1815, in the Far East: how many species? Neue Entomologische Nachrichten 67: 40–56.
Zolotuhin, V.V. & A.V. Chuvilin, 2009: On the species compound of the genus Actias Leach, 1815 (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) of Russia. Eversmannia 19/20: 21–31.

Actias is a genus of Saturniid moths, which contains the Asian-American moon moths. Long tails on their hindwings are among their distinctive traits. Other moths with similar appearance are Copiopteryx, Argema and Eudaemonia.

The majority of species in this genus feed on the leaves of sweetgum, pine, or similar trees. As with all Saturniids, adult Actias moths lack functional mouthparts so their lifespan after emergence from the cocoon only ranges from a few days to a week.

Species

The genus includes the following species:

Actias aliena (Butler, 1879)
Actias angulocaudata Naumann & Bouyer, 1998
Actias apollo Röber, 1923
Actias artemis (Bremer & Gray, 1853)
Actias arianeae (Brechlin, 2007)
Actias australovietnama Brechlin, 2000
Actias brevijuxta Nässig & Treadaway, 1997
Actias callandra Jordan, 1911 – Andaman moon moth
Actias chapae Mell, 1950
Actias chrisbrechlinae (Brechlin, 2007)
Actias dubernardi (Oberthür, 1897) – Chinese luna moth
Actias dulcinea (Butler, 1881) – Sweetheart moon moth
Actias felicis (Oberthür, 1896)
Actias gnoma (Butler, 1877) – Japanese moon moth
Actias groenendaeli Roepke, 1954
Actias guangxiana Brechlin, 2012
Actias ignescens Moore, 1877
Actias isis Sonthonnax, 1897
Actias kongjiara Chu & Wang, 1993
Actias keralana Nässig, Naumann & Giusti, 2020
Actias laotiana Testout, 1936
Actias luna (Linnaeus, 1758) – Luna moth
Actias maenas (Doubleday, 1847) – Malaysian moon moth
Actias neidhoeferi Ong & Yu, 1968
Actias ningpoana Fielder, 1862 – Chinese moon moth
Actias parasinensis Brechlin, 2009
Actias philippinica Naessig & Treadaway, 1997
Actias rasa Brechlin & Saldaitis, 2016
Actias rhodopneuma Roeber, 1925– Pink spirit moth
Actias rosenbergii (Kaup, 1895)
Actias seitzi Kalis, 1934
Actias selene (Hübner, 1806) – Indian moon moth
Actias shaanxiana (Brechlin, 2007)
Actias sinensis (Walker, 1855) – South China moon moth
Actias truncatipennis (Sonthonnax, 1899)
Actias uljanae (Brechlin, 2007)
Actias vanschaycki Brechlin, 2013
Actias winbrechlini (Brechlin, 2007)
Actias witti (Brechlin, 2007)
Actias xenia Jordan, [1912]

Selected former species

Actias heterogyna (Kishida, 1993)
Actias isabellae (Graells, 1849)
Actias omeishana Watson, 1912