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Thysanoplusia
orichalcea Fabricius comb. n.
Noctua orichalcea Fabricius, 1775, Systema Ent. p. 607.
Noctua chrysitina Martyn, 1797,Psyche p1. 21.
Noctua aurifera Hübner, [1808-18], Samml. eur. Schmett. 4:
fig. 463.
Diachrysia orichalcea Fabricius;
Holloway, 1976: 32.
Diagnosis. The pale lustrous green areas of the forewings are distinctive except
for possible confusion with a congener, intermixta Warren (below),
which occurs sympatrically with orichalcea throughout the Oriental
tropics to Java but has not yet been recorded from Borneo. T. intermixta
has a forewing green area of somewhat yellower tone, crossed by a more
distinct irregular submarginal; the green area extends slightly less basad and
is basally more blunt; the hindwings are paler, more yellowish. The complex
cornutus at the apex of the aedeagus vesica is almost half the length of the
aedeagus in orichalcea but only one eighth of the length in intermixta,
which also lacks the basal row of small cornuti present in orichalcea. The
saccus is apically splayed in intermixta but not in orichalcea.
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Thysanoplusia intermixta 
(Sumatra)
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Taxonomic note. In New Guinea there flies T. ekeikei Bethune-Baker, similar in
green colour to intermixta but with a straight forewing submarginal. The
male genitalia of the two species are very similar.
Geographical range. The species is widespread in the Old World tropics
and subtropics but appears to be scarce and of sporadic occurrence in
Australasia. Its most easterly locality is New Caledonia (Brun & Chazeau,
1980).
Habitat preference. The only recent records from Borneo are from G.
Kinabalu (Holloway, 1976) where it was taken in small numbers at most sampling
sites from 1200m to 2600m.
Biology. The general characteristics of the larva were described in the
introductory section. A detailed description was published by Sevastopulo
(1947). The species is polyphagous.
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