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Chalciope
mygdon Cramer
Noctua mygdon Cramer, [1777] 1779, Uitlandsche Kapellen,
2: 94.
Noctua
triangulum Fabricius, 1787, Mantissa Insectorum,
2: 145.
Chalciope
mygdonias Hübner, 1823 [1816], Verz. bekannter Schmett. p.
268.
Chalciope
mygdon Cramer; Holloway, 1976: 31; Kobes, 1985: 48.
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Chalciope
mygdon
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Diagnosis.
The forewings are marked with black triangles as in Trigonodes species,
but these fill more of the wing, make contact with the dorsum, and the costal
band expands and darkens distad where it ends in a sharp boundary that bisects
the apex.
Geographical
range. Oriental Region to Sundaland.
Habitat
preference. The species occurs in similar disturbed and open habitats to T.
hyppasia Cramer.
Biology.
The larva (Okinawa I.) was illustrated by Tanahara & Tanahara (2001a). It is
a very slender semi-looper with the prolegs on A3 lost and those on A4
vestigial; the section of the body between the functional prolegs and the thorax
is much extended. The colour is pale bluish grey with fine, darker longitudinal
lines. These lines are in more intense groups (or bands) subdorsally and
dorsolaterally, the dorsolateral group with its penultimate line ventrally (just
above the spiracles) particularly strong in places. The subdorsal group is
shaded irregularly darker between A1 and A3, and has a dark dot just ventral to
it on A1. Similar pairs of dots occur from A5 backwards, increasing in size to
A8.
The host
plant recorded was Phyllanthus (Euphorbiaceae). The Australasian
sister-species, C. alcyona Druce, was noted to feed on Oryza
(Gramineae)
by Robinson (1975). The record of Rhynchosia (Leguminosae)
for the genus in Barlow (1982) and Robinson et al. (2001)
is probably referable to Trigonodes, as species of this genus have been referred to Chalciope
in
the past (e.g. Mathur, 1942).
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