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SUBFAMILY
PANTHEINAE |
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Ortopla iarbasalis Walker (Plates 1, 9, Figs 4, 12) Ortopla
iarbasalis Walker, [1859] 1858, List
Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Diagnosis. The male has the angled excavate modification to the forewing costa mentioned above, and is darker than the female throughout. The latter has the cryptic brown and bone white pattern more variegated, with the postmedial conspicuously paler and straighter than in the male; the hindwing is paler over the basal two thirds, rendering the sinuous postmedial more conspicuous. Geographical range. Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia (Barlow colln), Sumatra (HS / K), Thailand (Kononenko & Pinratana, 2005). Habitat preference. The species occurs in forests from the lowlands to 2600m. It is never common, but possibly slightly more frequent at lower elevations. Biology. The species has been reared from the larval stage in Peninsular Malaysia by H.S. Barlow (pers. comm.). The mature larva (Plate 9) has tufts of long hairs twice the width of the body: secondary setae that arise from shallow verrucae. These radiate out all round the body. All prolegs are present, the plantae extended longitudinally in a halberd-like shape. The body is dark brown with a broad, orange dorsal band from T2 to A8 within which are transverse rows of five darker spots towards the anterior of each segment. The most dorsal pair of setal tufts is situated between the central three dots, which mark the anterior angles of a pentagonal patch slightly darker than the rest of the dorsal band. This patch has smaller dark dots within it and at the two posterior angles. Early instars are paler, greener in colour. A larva preserved in spirit is deposited in BMNH. The host plant was Trichilia connaroides (Meliaceae). |
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