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Darna
(Darna) metaleuca Walker
Artaxa metaleuca Walker, 1862, J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Zool) 6:126.
Darna plana Walker, 1862,Ibid.
6:126.
Darna metaleuca Walker; Hering, 1931: 718.
Diagnosis. The forewing is pale pinkish orange with a bar on the costa
submarginally; the dorsum is broadly and diffusely white. The hindwing is pale
yellow.
Taxonomic notes. D. sybilla Swinhoe from Thailand is externally similar but has
the valve of the male genitalia less erect and the costal process longer,
narrower, more sinuous.
Geographical range. Sundaland.
Habitat preference. The species has been encountered infrequently during
the Mulu survey and in Brunei in lowland forest types such as alluvial and hill
dipterocarp. One specimen was taken at 1500m in upper montane forest on the
limestone G. Api.
Biology. The larva was described and illustrated by Piepers & Snellen (1900).
It is deeper than broad, the dorsum very straight. It is dark or light green
with subdorsal lines of chalky white. The dorsolateral spiny tubercles are very
much smaller than the laterals, the posterior pair of which is very long; the
anterior pair of the dorsolaterals is brown.
The host-plant recorded was Bombax (Bombacaceae, as Eriodendrum).
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