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Targalla
subocellata Walker sp. rev. & comb. n.
Eutelia subocellata Walker,
[18631 1864, J. Linn. Soc. Lond., Zool. 7: 67.
Phlegetonia delatrix Guene;
Holloway, 1976: 17 (part).
Diagnosis. This species is significantly larger than palliatrix and has a
more distinctly marked forewing; the dark zone at the reniform is usually most
pronounced and the pale medial band is tinged yellow or orange. In the male
genitalia the valve is more elongate than in other species, the apex with a
central roundedly triangular lobe between two lateral angles; the aedeagus
vesica contains several blunt cornuti and a spined band of sclerotisation. The
female genitalia have the base of the ductus symmetrical, though less finely
tapered than in delatrix; the basal part of the bursa is squarish,
sclerotised, with a lateral zone of sclerotisation where the spines are much
larger at each extremity; there is a further zone of coarser scobination more
distally in the bursa.
Taxonomic note. Specimens from Australia, New Guinea, the southern Moluccas and Sulawesi
are much greyer in the forewing, the zone from the medial to the postmedial
being a pale ashy grey with no tinge of orange. These specimens can be referred
to T. subocellata pantarcha Turner stat. & comb. n. A male from
Taiwan (slide 11059) with shorter, broader valves and single cornuti only in the
vesica may represent a further race of subocellata.
Geographical range. ?Taiwan; N.E. Himalaya, Sundaland, Philippines;
Sulawesi, S. Moluccas, New Guinea, Queensland.
Habitat preference. There were single specimens taken on the Kinabalu
transect at 1930m and 2600m. The species was found infrequently in upper montane
forest in the Mulu survey on both G. Api and G. Mulu. Collecting in Brunei has
produced further material from upper montane forest on Bukit Retak and Bukit
Pagon, but also two specimens from lowland rainforest at Labi. The species would
appear to favour montane habitats more than its congeners.
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