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SUBFAMILY
PANTHEINAE |
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Cyclodes omma Hoeven (Plates 1, 9, Figs 3, 11) Erebus omma Hoeven, 1840, Tijdschr.
nat. Gesch. Physiol., 7: 281. Diagnosis. The wings of this unmistakable large species are marked with dark brown on a pale mauve ground; the hindwings are more strongly patterned than the forewings, but the latter have a conspicuous circular marking subcostally in the antemedial area. Geographical range. Oriental tropics to Moluccas. Habitat preference. This is an infrequent species recorded mostly in lowland forest below 500m, but one specimen was taken on G. Kinabalu at 1930m. Biology. The larva, described from photographs (Plate 9) taken in Malaysia by H. Steiner (pers. comm.), is a glossy medium brown, with all primary setae prominent, bristle-like and set on robust conical chalazae that ring each segment; the segments are strongly annular, separated from each other by grooves. The setae of the thoracic segments are curved forwards dorsally and downwards laterally to enclose the rather large, round, glossy, brown head. The dorsal thoracic setae are particularly long and reach the substrate in front of the head. The thoracic setae are orange-brown, the rest dark brown to black. All abdominal prolegs are fully developed. Steiner found the larva feeding on the male inflorescence of Calamus (Palmae) in Peninsular Malaysia, and noted it also on another unidentified rattan. However, it is a sporadic pest of coconut palm (Cocos), the larvae feeding on the female flowers and boring into immature nuts (Kumar & Naidu (1992) and references therein). Robinson et al. (2001) added Areca (Palmae) to the host plant records. Steiner observed the larva to pupate within a white, papery cocoon within the inflorescence, whereas Kumar & Naidu referred to a brownish silken cocoon. |
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