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Idaea assyria sp. n.
Idaea assyria 
(paratype)
(x 1.16) |
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5mm. This species has striking facies unique among Oriental Idaea: pale
yellow wings with broad dull purple borders and wings bases that grade reddish
orange at their edges. The actual margins are narrowly yellow, somewhat
irregular at their junction with the purple border. The basal purple zone of the
forewing extends along the costa, tapering away towards the purple border. The
hind-legs are reduced, particularly the tarsi, with a hair pencil typical of the
genus. The male genitalia indicate some affinity with I. egenaria: simple
tapering valves, acute saccus and a single cornutus in the aedeagus vesica. The
second sternite is unmodified. Females, known only from Sulawesi, are slightly
larger and have the purple border broader extending closer to the wing margins.
The genitalia have a regularly elongate-oval bursa with irregular zones of
sclerotisation and spining.
Holotype . BRUNEI: 300ft. Rampayoh R.,
LP195, GR 960785. Lowland dipterocarp forest, 11-19.iii.1989 (G.S. Robinson) BM
geometrid slide 18495.
Paratypes; l BRUNEI: 3m.
Mumong, secondary and coastal veg, 24.12.1979 (R.
Fairclough) 1 SABAH, E.: Danum Valley, Rte Lahad Datu, 350m. 13.iv.93 (J.
Devecis) (in colln Herbulot).
A further worn specimen was taken in secondary and coastal vegetation at Seria, Brunei.
Geographical range. Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia (FRIM colln), Sulawesi.
Habitat preference. This is a lowland, possibly mainly coastal species.
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