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Lebeda Walker
Type species:
nobilis Walker.
This genus, also
reviewed by Lajonquière (1979), has facies similar to that of female Metanastria,
but the species are larger, and the subtornal dark markings of the
forewing are conspicuous. The aedeagus of the male genitalia has a ventral
subapical spur as in Metanastria, but this is tapering rather than disc-like,
and more coarsely spined. The cubile arms are short, rectangular, with spining
on the distal margin.
The genus
consists of two species groups. The first has strong sexual dimorphism, the male
having a longitudinal dark zone over the anterior of the forewing or restricted
more to the centre, whereas the very much larger female has the wings more uniformly
pale. There is a prominent white discal lunule. In the male genitalia the cubile
arms are well separated; the distal margin is more rounded than in the other
group. Distinction of the three taxa involved is included in the specific account
of L. cognata.
The second group
shows no sexual dimorphism, the discal lunule of the forewing is weak or absent,
the spines of the aedeagus spur and the spur itself are more irregular, and the
cubile arms are broader, set adjacent to each other. There are five species in
this group: L. trifascia Walker from India, the three described for Borneo, and
L. metaspila Walker comb. n. from Sulawesi. Lajonquière excluded this last
species from Lebeda on the basis of mainland Asian specimens he attributed to
it. Fresh material from Sulawesi collected on Project Wallace has revealed its
true status as stated in the description of L. intermedia below.
Sevastopulo
(1939) has described the early stages of L. nobilis. The egg is barrel-shaped,
whitish with a dark spot at each end and three olive brown rings. In the larva
the ground colour of the body varies from dark blue-grey to pale silver-grey;
the body is speckled with small, scale-like hairs. The prothorax has an anterior
dorsal fringe of buff hairs projecting over the head; the dorsolateral and
lateral protruberances bear similar long buff hairs. The rest of the body
segments have lateral protruberances, those of the meso- and metathorax bearing
the longest hairs. These thoracic segments have transverse dorsal folds lined
with dark skin, fringed internally with blue-tipped, red-brown, acute hairs, and
externally with short buff hairs. A2 to A8 each have subdorsal brushes
anteriorly of the red-brown hairs, covered by ribbon-like buff hairs. All these
ornaments are obscured or flattened in repose, exposed or erected on alarm. The
venter is black with a red lateral stripe. Pupation is in a dense cocoon of
blackish brown silk spun in a leaf, and through it protrude larval hairs. The
pupa is purplish and red, with golden pubescence on the abdomen.
The hosts given
were bracken-fern (Pteridium), Pinus (Pinaceae) and Rubus
(Rosaceae) but the
range of diet is much wider, as discussed below.
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