|
Idaea
?sakuraii Inoue
Sterrha sakuraii Inoue, 1963, Tinea, 6: 30.
Diagnosis. This species is greyer than ptyonopoda and more strongly
fasciated, the postmedials being slightly enlarged, dark brown, where they meet
the wing margins. There is a diffuse, broad hindwing medial. The scent-pencils
of the male hind-tibia are medium brown. The male genitalia are distinguished by
a pair of spined processes that flank the aedeagus. The female typically (Japan,
Hong Kong) has a large, horseshoe-shaped sclerotisation on the lamella
antevaginalis, surrounding the ostium.
Taxonomic notes. Identification as sakuraii is tentative, based on the presence of
the pair of spined processes. These vary considerably in specimens examined,
being slender in typical Japanese material, robust and like a bird's head in the
Bornean male and more elongate and bidentate in a male from Java. In males from
Hong Kong they are longer with a larger distal spine. The development of the
bulge on the centre of the valve costa is also variable, and not evident in
typical Japanese material.
Geographical range. Japan, Hong Kong, Borneo; Java (slide 18585).
Habitat preference. A single male was taken in upper montane forest at
1790m on G. Mulu.
Biology. The larva of sakuraii in Japan is illustrated in Sugi (1987). It
is stick-like rather rugose, the rugosity tending to ring each segment in a
series of folds: there is a slight lateral longitudinal flange. The colour is
longitudinally streaked pale brown above, pale-speckled indigo below, separated
by diffuse pale patches laterally. There is a paler dorsal line on the thoracic
segment.
No specific host-plant was mentioned.
<<Back
>>Forward <<Return
to Contents page
|
