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Ambadra
suriga Schaus
Turnaca suriga Schaus, 1928,Proc. U.S. natn. Mus. 73
(19): 88.
Suriga suriga Schaus; Kiriakoff 1968: 98.
Ambadra suriga Schaus; Holloway 1982a: 206.
Diagnosis. The reddish patch basal to the pale discal spot on the forewing, and the
smaller size, distinguish this species from its Bornean relatives.
Taxonomic note. In Malaya and the Indian Subregion there flies the very similar A.
stigmatica Gaede, probably the sister species of suriga.
Geographical range. Borneo, Philippines, Sulawesi.
Habitat preference. Infrequent in lowland dipterocarp forest.
Biology. The life history of suriga is unknown but is probably similar to
that of stigmatica, studied in India by Bell (MS).
The egg is a depressed, whitish sphere (1.7 x 1.2 mm), with a circular,
pinkish brown micropyle surface and, with maturity, pinkish brown freckles. The
eggs are laid in rows of three to seven, or singly, on a pinna of the frond of
the host, Cocos nucifera (coconut palm). The larvae grow rapidly and
generally lie on a midrib of a pinna where the lamina has been stripped.
The larva is spindle-shaped, the head broader than the tail where the
anal claspers protrude but hardly diverge. The head is smooth, shiny, light
green with a fine maroon line laterally. The body is greyish olive green,
glabrous, with a whitish subdorsal line, a pale yellow-green dorsolateral line
and a maroon-edged, whitish spiracular band that continues onto the head and
anal claspers; there is a blue dorsal 'pulsating' line and a broken maroon
line runs along the leg bases.
Pupation is on the surface of the ground or between two pinnae in a
silken cocoon. The adult rests with the wings closely pressed to the sides of
the body.
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