FAMILY LASIOCAMPIDAE
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Lebeda intermedia sp. n.


Lebeda intermedia (holotype)
(.85 natural size)


33mm, female.gif (844 bytes) 49mm. This species is similar to the Sulawesian L. metaspila Walker though paler and more contrasty in marking, and is intermediate in fasciae between the previous two species. The forewings are a warm brown, the fasciae paler, the two pairs being only very finely flanked by slightly darker brown. The male genitalia are relatively larger, particularly broader than in pruetti, the ventral margin of the vinculum circular rather than triangular. In this they resemble those of metaspila.

Holotype
Kuching, BORNEO, BM lasiocampid slide 991.

Other material.
1 Benkoelen, W. SUMATRA, 1 2
female.gif (844 bytes)female.gif (844 bytes) Genting Tea Estate, PENINSULAR MALAYSIA.

Geographical range. Borneo, Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia.

Biology: The species has been reared from cocoa (Theobroma: Sterculiaceae) in Sabah (unpublished CIE records).


Larvae that from general size were probably those of metaspila were observed in N. Sulawesi (during Project Wallace) though they were not reared out because of inability to provide suitable conditions. By day a group of twenty or so were clustered together at the base of the stem of a small vine, a position which they were observed to moult. At night they ascended the vine to feed on canopy foliage (not identified) but by dawn had reconvened at the base of the vine.

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