|
Chasmina
Walker
Type species: cygnus
Walker.
Synonyms: Arbasera
Walker (type species candida Walker); Carandana Moore (type
species fasciculosa Walker, Indian subregion); Casamba Walker
(type species zonata Walker, Brazil); Clinophlebia Hampson (type
species sericea Hampson = candida).
Typically this genus
(including the synonyms Arbasera and Clinophlebia) consists of
large species that are almost pure white except for black marginal dots to the
wings and black or brown spots or zones in the labial palps or legs. Hairs of
male scent pencils may be of a different colour such as yellow (C. basiflava Holloway)
or pale green (C. viridis Robinson).
These species have
features of the male genitalia that distinguish them from more patterned
congeners (e.g. Carandana; Neotropical Casamba taxa have not been
examined) such as loss of a harpe from the valve, shortening of the aedeagus,
which is produced ventrally at the apex; the vesica has characteristic features
such as a rhomboidal zone of corrugate scobination, a patch of densely packed,
deciduous, needle-like spines, and a row of much larger peg-like spines.
In the female
genitalia the 8th segment is simple, the ovipositor lobes rather square. The
short ductus bursae is centrally sclerotised, this sclerotisation scrolled on
each side. The bursa is massive, corrugate, finely scobinate, selerotised over
the basal portion, with a convolute appendix bursa arising subbasally and
broadening distally into a sac invested with minute, fine spines.
Bell (MS) described
the larva of the type species. It is cylindrical, the head nearly as broad as
the body. The first two pairs of prolegs are reduced relative to the other two.
The surface of the body is smooth, dull, the segments well defined. Primary
setae only are present, set on black chalazae, surrounded by white, or, less
frequently, on wholly white chalazae. The colour is greyish grass green, with a
pure white, longitudinal, lateral band and a much weaker spiracular band;
between these bands is often yellowish. There is a weak, dark, pulsating dorsal line,
flanked by whitish or yellowish, fine, minutely wavy lines.
The
eggs are laid on young, pink leaves of the host-plant. The small larvae are
white, active, semi-loopers. They jump off the plant when alarmed, anchored by
silk. They rest on the underside of leaves. Pupation is just under the surface
of the soil in a strong cocoon of earth lined with silk. The larvae can diapause
in the cocoon during dry seasons. Sugi (1987) also noted the larvae were semi-loopers and suggested the genus was misplaced in Amphipyrinae.
The host-plant was Crewia (Tiliaceae).
Bell
also described the larva of C. fasciculosa, very differently coloured and
marked from that of cygnus, and feeding on Helicteres (Sterculiaceae).
Robinson
(1975) recorded C. tibialis Fabricius from Hibiscus (Malvaceae).
The
similarity of the species in the 'large white' group has led to some confusion in
the literature. The following check list sets out a provisional assessment of
the taxa based on material in the BMNH:
| Chasmina
vestae Guenee |
Afican |
| Chasrnina
malagasy Viette |
Malagasy
subredion |
| Chasmina
candida Walker = sericea Hampson |
Indo-Australian
tropics |
| Chasmina
verticata Warren |
Australia,
New
Caledonia |
| Chasmina
tibialis Fabricius = dianae Guenee = glabra Walker |
Australia,
New
Caledonia |
| Chasmina
sp. slide 3313 |
Sri
Lanka |
| Chasmina
cygnus Walker |
N.E.Himalaya |
| Chasmina
coremata sp. n |
Borneo |
| Chasrnina
sp. slide 14220 |
Java |
| Chasmina
basiflava Holloway |
New
Caledonia |
| Chasmina
viridis Robinson |
Fiji |
| Chasmina
tibiopunctata Bethune-Baker |
New
Guinea,S.Moluccas |
| Chasmina
nigropunctata Bethune-Baker |
New
Guinea |
| Chasmina
sp. slide 14215 (?celebensis Snellen) |
Sulawesi |
| Chasmina
sundana sp. n. |
Borneo,
Sumatra, Peninsula Malaysia |
<<Back
>>Forward <<Return
to Contents page
|
