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SUBFAMILY
BAGISARINAE |
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Amyna punctum Fabricius (Plate 2, Figs 43, 54) Noctua punctum Fabricius, 1794, Ent.
Syst. III, 2: 34. Diagnosis. This and the next species have very similar medium brown facies, and both have forms with a white discal patch on the forewing. The fasciae are obscure, fine, blackish, crenate. However, punctum is much larger with more triangular, apically acute forewings; the postmedial on the forewing underside has its strongest curvature towards the costa rather than being relatively even. Geographical range. Old World tropics east to New South Wales, Fiji and New Caledonia. Habitat preference. This is probably a common species of disturbed lowland habitats but can occur in large numbers at altitude, e.g. about 750 individuals taken at 1780‑1790m on G. Mulu in an area of undisturbed montane forest, possibly as a result of some process of mass movement such as migration or hill‑topping; the species has been recorded as a vagrant on Norfolk I. (Holloway, 1979: 427). In the survey of G. Kinabalu (Holloway, 1976), the largest catches were made in areas of cultivation at Tuaran in the lowlands and at 1200m near Bundu Tuhan. Chey (1994) found it common in lowland softwood plantations and secondary forest near Brumas in the lowlands of Sabah. Biology. Hampson (1910: 474) and Warren (1913, Gross‑Schmett. Erde 11: 273) described the larva as dorsally blackish with indistinct, broken, pale lines. It is brownish ochreous laterally, with a black‑centred, white, ocellate spot on each segment, these spots sometimes set in reddish patches. There is a brownish sublateral stripe, and the ventral surface is variably ochreous yellow to green with whitish lines and, laterally, a double row of black spots laterally. The head and anal segment are ochreous with black spots. Robinson et al. (2001) cited numerous records of the larva feeding on the foliage of Croton (Euphorbiaceae) of which it can be a serious pest (Maxwell‑Lefroy & Howlett, 1909). |
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