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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 
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Perixera
monetaria |
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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).
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