Africa is Athletes. Though, the genus itself only has
5 species it is one of the most notable and striking
looking of (large) African moths.
The various species average somewhere between
5 (3/4) in. thru to about 7 inches of wing expanse.
They are all garnered with very large prominent
eyespots which REALLY do have an appearance of true
eyes.
A very well done adaptive strategy of evolution !
Of the 5 species this one is now correctly identified as Athletes gigas.
The "frosted" appearance of the costal veins and
partial forewing are particularly striking and seem to be
especially evident in at least 4 of the species (semialba,
albicans, ethra, and gigas). The otherwise background
coloration may be a dark "wood-like" tone and pattern
or can at times --- have a yellowish/lighter tone.
A. semialba offers some nice color variants which can
have quite a bit of maroon and/or reddish overtones
on the hindwings.
Here, is yet another fantastic and (larger) example of
Athletes semialba as seen above....
Here is a range map distribution for A. semialba
which likely includes others of the genus as well.
