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Rusicada
nigritarsis Walker
comb. rev.
Rusicada
nigritarsis Walker,
[1858] 1857, List
Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus., 15: 1006.
Anomis
albipuncta Snellen, 1880, Tijdschr. Ent. 23:
76.
Gonitis
xanthochroa Butler,
1886, Trans.
ent. Soc. Lond., 1886: 409.
Anomis
ambonensis Swinhoe, 1920, Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (9),
5: 257, syn.
n.
Anomis irene Prout, 1929, Bull.
Hill Mus. Witley, 3: 11, syn. n.
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Rusicada
nigritarsis 
(Sri Lanka)
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Diagnosis.
This and all the species except the last have the typical orange-red forewings,
but nigritarsis
and
revocans
Walker
are distinguished by the reniform where the posterior lobe is smaller than the
anterior one, rather than equal to it or larger. The average direction of the
zig-zag anterior part of the postmedial is oblique to the costa in nigritarsis
and
more or less at right-angles to it in revocans. In the male genitalia the robust juxta
bifurcations extend almost to the apex of the valve and are curved in nigritarsis,
much shorter and straight in revocans. In both species the setose projections from the
anellar attachment to the aedeagus are asymmetrical and the valve coremata have
the setal bases entirely pale. In the females the lobes of the lamella
postvaginalis are broader at the base than they are long. Those of revocans
have
an angular process between the lobes of the lamella postvaginalis, and there is
a diverticulum at the base of the ductus bursae.
Taxonomic
note. The subspecies (see below) are separated on facies differences: nigritarsis
is
uniform greyish red; albipuncta is a dark, dull, brick-red; xanthochroa
is
dark as in albipuncta
but
mottled with broad areas of paler colour. New Caledonian material is somewhat
intermediate between albipuncta and xanthochroa in
characters.
Geographical
range. Sri Lanka, India, Hainan, Taiwan, Borneo, Java; Sulawesi,
Moluccas, Queensland, New Caledonia (ssp. albipuncta);
Solomons, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga (ssp. xanthochroa).
Habitat
preference. The general distribution suggests a preference for seasonally
dry areas of the tropics. In New Caledonia (Holloway, 1979) and Fiji (Robinson,
1975) the species was taken mostly in open, disturbed or secondary habitats. In
Borneo a female was recorded in an area of coastal and secondary vegetation at
Seria in Brunei.
Biology.
Moore
(1884-1887) described two forms of larva which he attributed to nigritarsis.
The green form may well be referable to albitibia (see below) which is sympatric in Sri
Lanka, and the other form, olive grey with fine longitudinal white lines, each
segment dotted black, the head yellowish, may possibly be true nigritarsis.
Host-plants
recorded (Robinson, 1975; Holloway, 1979; Robinson et
al.,
02001) are Hibiscus and
Urena
(Malvaceae).
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