TRIBE COSYMBIINI
View Image Gallery of Tribe Cosymbiini

Perixera monetaria Guenée comb. n.
   
Anisodes monetaria Guenée, 1857, Hist. nat. Insectes, Spec. Gen. Lep., 9: 418.
   
Anisodes areolaria Guenée, 1857, Ibid., 9: 418.
    Anisodes argentispila Warren, 1893, Proc. zool. Soc. Lond., 1893: 361.
   
Anisodes hyperythra Swinhoe, 1894, Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (6), 14: 135.
   
Perixera (?)pleniluna Warren, 1897, Novit. zool., 4: 394.
   
Anisodes monetaria Guenée; Holloway, 1976: 64.


Perixera monetaria

Perixera monetaria



Diagnosis. This and the next species are almost uniform brick-red with a large white discal spot to the hindwing (obliterated by black in some specimens as in the argyromma group). P. argentosa Prout is somewhat greyer in tone, with the medial more strongly defined near the costa distal to the hindwing discal spot. A long spine from the centre of the eighth tergite distinguishes males of monetaria, but females are best distinguished by dissection of the genitalia: the bursa in monetaria is basally sclerotised and more strongly scobinate, terminating at the ostium where the lamella postvaginalis is produced into a rather elongate, rectangular process; in argentosa, the bursa (and ductus) taper more narrowly to the ostium and are not more heavily sclerotised, and the lamella postvaginalis is more square with a central protrusion.

Taxonomic notes. From Talaut, the Moluccas and Banda Is. east to Fiji monetaria is represented by P. ceramis Meyrick comb. rev. (= inornata Warren, homostola Meyrick and leucopelta Lower), which has major differences in the male genitalia (more foliate, enlarged dorsal processes to the vinculum, the valve having a shorter, blunter costal spur; the aedeagus is very much shorter and there is no spine to the eighth tergite). The group has coremata on the male abdomen but they are situated more at the junction of the third and fourth sternites. There is a tuft on the hind-femur but the tibia is of normal length. Valve processes are costal but weak. The uncus/tegumen is broadly bilobed.

Geographical range. Indian Subregion, Sundaland, Sulawesi.

Habitat preference. The species is infrequent and appears to be montane, recorded from 1620m and 1760m on G. Kinabalu and from 1618m on Bukit Retak in Brunei.

Biology. Bell reared a species in S. India, tentatively identified as monetaria. The larva is cylindrical, tapering slightly towards the anterior. It is green, with yellow posterior margins on T3 and the first three abdominal segments and black- suffused lateral patches anteriorly on segments A1-7, strongest on the most anterior two. The grass-green pupa is squarely truncated anteriorly, and crossed there by a red-brown band. There are yellow patches on the abdomen dorsally.

The larvae live at the edges of young leaves, the anterior part held aloft in an arched posture when at rest. The pupa is suspended head upwards from the substrate (a leaf or twig) by a typical cosymbiine girdle and pad.

The host-plant was Alseodaphne (Lauraceae).

<<Back >>Forward <<Return to Contents page


Copyright © Southdene Sdn. Bhd. All rights reserved.