SUBFAMILY HADENINAE
View Image Gallery of Subfamily Hadeninae

Elusa ceneusalis Walker
Elusa ceneusalis Walker, 1858, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus., 16 : 202.
Alimala limacodoides Walker, 1862, J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Zool.), 6:133.
Plusia invicta Walker, 1864, J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Zool), 7: 72
Callopistria furunculoides Pagenstecher, 1900, Zoologica, 29: 74.
Adrapsa basiferruginea Rothschild, 1920, J. fed. Malay States Mus., 8 :123 syn. n.


Elusa ceneusalis

Elusa ceneusalis




Diagnosis.
This is the largest of the Bornean species, the forewings are a darkish grey-brown with a pale, straight submarginal. Some forms have the basal half of the wing more blackish, bounded distally as an obtuse angle. When the white reniform is present, the anterior and posterior lobes are approximately equal in size. The male antennae have a node. The valves of the male genitalia are strongly corematous and apically excavate.

Taxonomic notes.
Bornean specimens (the typical race) and, to a lesser extent, Javan ones, have the ventral dorsal angle of the valve produced well beyond the dorsal apical angle. In material from Sulawesi and the Philippines eastwards (ssp. furunculoides Pagenstecher) the ventral angle is shorter than, or equal to, the dorsal angle. Most areas have a uniform (typical) form and a form with the basal half of the forewing distinctly darker. The holotype of basiferruginea Rothschild (Sumatra), here brought into synonymy, is the latter form. The reniform is white infrequently. E. antennata Moore (N.E. Himalaya) is probably the sister species of ceneusalis, having a more elongate, slender dorsal part of the valve, the ventral part being rounded and contiguous with a short, globose corema; the harpe is relatively short.

The abdomen of the type of invicta Walker is that of a limacodid, evidently glued on in error, particularly as the moth is female and the abdomen male!


Geographical range.
Sundaland, Philippines, Sulawesi to Queensland and Bismarcks.

Habitat preference.
The species is frequent in the lowlands, found in both undisturbed forest and secondary associations.

    <<Back >>Forward <<Return to Contents page


Copyright © Southdene Sdn. Bhd. All rights reserved.