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Xanthorhoe
liwagu sp. n.
Xanthorhoe curcumoides Prout
or close; Holloway, 1976: 65.
13, 15mm. The forewing is pale greenish, broadly banded and marked with
brown: a triangle at the margin near the apex and a broad zone between the
antemedial and postmedial with some finer, more basal fasciae also. The
hindwings are grey. The triangle is more clearly defined than in curcumoides (N.E.
Himalaya) but otherwise the facies is very similar. X. curcumoides belongs
to a group of greenish species with a rounded apex and reduced costal projection
to the valve of the male genitalia (Holloway, 1986b). Other taxa in the region
include X. fissiferula Prout (Sumatra), X. hyphagna Prout (Java)
and X. saturata Guenée (Himalaya, Taiwan, Luzon). The genitalia of the
new species differ from those in this group (curcumoides and hyphagna examined)
in lacking a squarish expansion of the ductus at the ostium, having the ductus
narrower and longer, and the spined band of the signum longer with longer
spines. The lamella postvaginalis is diagnostically scobinate and indented.
Holotype . SABAH: Mt Kinabalu, 'Power Station', 1930m, vii-ix. 1965. Cambridge Expedition to Mt Kinabalu 1965
(H.J. Banks, H.S. Barlow & J.D. Holloway) BM geometrid slide 9021.
Paratype . As holotype, BM geometrid
slide 18738.
Geographical range. Borneo.
Habitat preference. The two specimens are from upper montane forest on G.
Kinabalu.
Biology. Yunus & Ho (1980) recorded a species identified as X. saturata from Brassica (Cruciferae) in Peninsular Malaysia. Singh (1953)
noted saturata as feeding on Mentha (Labiatae) and Nasturtium
(Cruciferae) in India.
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