Host plant
Urania sloanus host plant Omphalea triandra. © Atsushi Kawakita
Foodplants
Urania sloanus is only recorded to eat Jamaican Cobnut, Omphalea triandra. However, like other Urania spp. it may have been oligophagous on Omphalea spp. (Euphorbiaceae).
Larval foodplants
- first discovered as larvae feeding in large quantity on O. triandra by the Rev J.L. Mais
- subsequently found on this plant by the famous naturalist Philip Gosse (Gosse, 1881) at Bogue Bay, near Ocho Rios on the northeast coast of Jamaica.
Omphalea triandra is widespread on limestone substrates in Jamaica (Adams, 1972) and is recorded at:
- St Andrew (www.tropicos.org)
- Windsor in Cockpit County
- Dolphin Head in the West (http://www.forestry.gov.jm/dolphinweb/pdf_docs/ForestRelationships_DolphinHead.pdf) (see also Gillespie, 1988)
O. triandra is reported in error from Cuba (by Macleay, 1834, whose illustration shows Omphalea trichotoma: Lees and Smith, 1991)
There are also two lowland records on (www.tropicos.org) for Dominican Republic.
Adult foodplants
- flowering Lauraceae (the snow-white blossoms of avocado or “pear-trees”, Persea americana)
- Anacardiaceae (mango, Mangifera indica) (Gosse, 1851; Lees and Smith, 1991)
Surprisingly, no natural adult nectar resources are recorded, but other planted fruit trees were avoided (Gosse, 1851).