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Pandesma
quenavadi Guenée
Pandesma
quenavadi Guenée, 1852, Hist. nat. Insectes,
Spec.
gén. Lépid., 6: 438.
Pandesma
jubra Swinhoe, 1889, Proc. zool. Soc. Lond.,
1889: 413.
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Pandesma
quenavadi
(in
FRC, Sepilok)
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Diagnosis.
The forewings are rather narrow, grey, with a broad, darker border. There is
light and irregular fasciation basal to this, a weak reniform stigma, and a
small dark spot centrally in the antemedial zone. The hindwings are white with a
broad blackish grey border that is darker than the one on the forewings.
Geographical
range. N.E. Himalaya, Taiwan, Burma, Thailand (VK), Japan (Inoue et al.,
1982), Sumatra (HS / ZSM), Borneo, Java, Philippines, Australia (Nielsen et
al.,
1996).
Habitat
preference. A female has been taken from the coast of Brunei at Seria, an
area of coastal forest and disturbed habitats. Also, Chey (1994) recorded
several specimens in secondary forest and softwood plantations at Brumas in the
lowlands of Sabah.
Biology.
The larva was described by Gardner (1941, 1948a). All abdominal prolegs are
fully developed, with long plantae. The mandible has a complex internal armature
of teeth, shared with the Polydesmini (see below), and possibly correlated with
a tendency for bark-feeding. The head is rather coarsely and distinctively
granulate, but the skin of the body is smooth. The head is mostly black, but
with pale spots or stripes. The body has a brown-speckled, whitish dorsal line,
broken by black on A1 and A2. The flanks are speckled black down to the level of
the spiracles, but below this the body is paler and speckled with brown. The
spiracles are black.
The
larvae feed on the bark of Acacia and Abizia (Leguminosae;
also noted by Miyata (1983)), sheltering a few centimetres deep in under dead
leaves or stones when not feeding. Gardner (1948a) indicated that records of the
species as a defoliator may be incorrect; earlier (Gardner, 1941) he stated that
the younger larvae feed on shoots. Robinson et
al. (2001)
add Xylia
(Leguminosae)
to the host list but refer to defoliation as well as bark-feeding. The reference
to fruit crops from Zhang (1994) may be for adult feeding, as the other two
congeners listed by Robinson et al. both
have only Leguminosae as host records (Acacia,
Dalbergia,
Pithecellobium,
Prosopis).
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