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SUBFAMILY
AEDIINAE |
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Aedia leucomelas Linnaeus (Plate 2, Figs 58, 61) Phalaena
Noctua leucomelas Linnaeus, 1758, Syst.
Nat., (edn 10): 578. Diagnosis. This and the next species have very similar facies, but leucomelas has the forewing slightly darker, with a slightly more irregular, lunulate postmedial and a more reduced white area in the vicinity of the reniform. In acronyctoides Guenée this white area is more extensive in the male and terminated usually in a straight edge posteriorly. The submarginal in leucomelas is obscure or sagittate, whereas in acronyctoides it is usually represented by fine black longitudinal streaks within the interior half of the marginal zone. The male genitalia differ in the shape of the valve and in the extent and dispersion of its coronal setae. In leucomelas the valve apex is more acute, less rounded, and the row of coronal setae is longer, and they are more dispersed and irregular within it. Taxonomic note. Holloway (1976) noted the genitalia differences above and suggested a species complex might occur in the region, recognising also a potential third species in the Indian Himalayan region, but he later (Holloway, 1979) suggested that perhaps only one variable species was involved. Haruta (1993) reviewed this and decided that there was indeed a complex of species, and described the third species as A. hollowayi Haruta. Edwards in Nielsen et al. (1996) treated olivescens Guenée as a distinct species present in Australia but (p. 378) indicated that the complex of species there needed further resolution; the record of olivescens may indicate that leucomelas also occurs in Australia; the type locality of olivescens is Java. Geographical range. S. Europe and Africa to Oriental tropics; ?Australia. Habitat preference. The four specimens from Bundu Tuhan (1200m) listed by Holloway (1976) were all of this species and another specimen from Tamparuli has been seen. Both localities are areas of disturbed vegetation and cultivation. Biology. The larva in Europe (Goater et al., 2003) is described as grey or greenish, thickly and coarsely speckled with black, with orange lines dorsally, dorsolaterally and above the spiracles. There is a subspiracular yellow line with a black lower margin. In Europe (Goater et al., 2003), leucomelas feeds on Calystegia (Convolvulaceae). General records from the area of overlap between this and the next species could be attributable to either. |
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