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Tetragonus
catamitus Geyer
Tetragonus catamitus
Geyer,
1832, Zuträge Samml. exot. Schmett., 4:17.
Cleosiris fasciata Moore, 1883, Proc. zool. Soc. Lond.,
1883: 15.
Tetragonus catamitus simaluricus
Kobes, 1990: 106.
Diagnosis. The wing shape of catamitus is diagnostic, deep, with the
hindwing margin angled. Both Tetragonus in Borneo have strong discal
spots on the hindwing underside, silvery white, surrounded by dark brown. The
two spots are separate in catamitus, fused in lycaenoides Felder.
The postmedials are more irregular in course and the underside generally
transversely striate in catamitus, whereas in lycaenoides the
former are more regularly curved with sagittate marks in each space and
transverse striation is absent.
Taxonomic notes. Some subspecific variation occurs, mostly in size, intensity of the
underside pattern and the development of the pale area on the forewing upperside.
Geographical range. Oriental tropics, Moluccas.
Habitat preference. The species has not been taken in recent surveys.
Older Bornean material is mostly from the lowlands.
Biology. Barlow (1982; misidentified as lycaenoides) described the larva
as translucent greenish, with a black head and well-developed, chitinous
prothoracic shield. Early instars live in a rolled leaf, later ones amongst
leaves drawn together with silk; pupation occurs in such a position.
This description conforms closely to that by Bell (MS) for the species in S.
India. He compared the larva to that of a typical pyralid, the head round,
flattish, shining, with the anterior margin of T1 covering the vertex broadly.
T1 has a complete, shiny black shield. The body is cylindrical, grass-green, the
setae dark, set on broadly conical tubercles.
The pupa has the head prominent and is thickest in the middle, the abdomen
parallel-sided except for the last four segments that form a cone. The cremaster
is a circular, flat cap with honeycombed roughness and a short central, bifid
process, the arms of which curl at the ends with two short, bristle-like shafts
and two much longer, thinner, hooked shafts.
The flat, scale-like egg is laid on the underside of a frond of the host-plant,
a fern in the genus Drynaria, epiphytic on trees and also occurring on
rocks. There is also a record (IIE, unpublished) of the larva feeding on bracken
(Pteridium) in Hong Kong.
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