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Eudocima
[Othreis]
homaena
Hübner
Othreis
homaena Hübner, [1827] 1816, Verz. bekannter Schmett.:
264.
Phalaena
Noctua ancilla Cramer, 1777, Uitlandsche Kapellen,
2: 84, praeocc.
Phalaena strigata Donovan, [1804] 1800, Epitome nat. Hist. Insects Ind.,
pl. 54: fig. 2, praeocc.
Ophideres bilineosa Walker,
[1858] 1857, List
Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus., 13: 1227.
Othreis
ancilla formosana Okano, 1964, Tohoku Konchu Kenkyu,
1 (2): 43-4.
Othreis
homaena Hübner; Holloway, 1976: 36.
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Eudocima
homaena  |
Eudocima
homaena (Christmas
I.) |
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Diagnosis.
There is marked sexual dimorphism in forewing pattern. Males have it variegated
and transversely rippled purplish brown, with a shallowly sigmoid postmedial and
straight antemedial. Females have a similar ground colour, but the pattern is
more irregular and is disrupted by a broad green streak much as in the next two
species but with a more angular shape.
Geographical
range. Indian Subregion, Taiwan, Nicobars, Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo,
Philippines, Christmas I.
Habitat
preference. Records range from the lowlands to 1930m, but the species is
more frequent in the lowlands. Females are much rarer in light-trap samples.
Biology.
The larva has been described and sometimes illustrated, usually under its
synonym, ancilla,
by Moore (1881, 1884-1887), Mathur (1942) and Bell (MS). It is a deep, velvety
blackish brown or purplish brown, often greyer dorsally, with the setae on
minute blue spots. The ocelli are centred azure-blue within black surrounds and
ringed with yellow, and there are irregularly sized lateral yellow patches
laterally on A1, A6, A7 and A8, the largest being on A6, and that on A1 being in
line with the ocelli. The hump of A8 is red in the illustration by Moore (1881).
Host
plants recorded (Robinson et al., 2001) are Achyranthes
(Amaranthaceae),
Cocculus,
Cyclea,
Menispermum
and
Tiliacora
(Menispermaceae).
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