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Plusiodonta Guenée
Type
species: chalsytoides Guenée, Java, = coelonota
Kollar,
Indian Subregion.
Synonyms: Deva
Walker
(type species conducens Walker, Sri Lanka = coelonota);
Gadera
Walker
(type species incitans Walker, type locality not known [Mexico, Costa
Rica]); Odontina Guenée (type species excavata
Guenée,
Réunion I.) praeocc.; Tafalla Walker
(type species clavifera Walker, Honduras); Tinnodoa Nye
(replacement name for Odontina).
Plusiodonta
was
also briefly discussed by Bänziger (1983). The forewing shape is more as in Oraesia
than
Calyptra,
the pattern with golden or silvery areas on a dark ground. Oblique fasciation is
more obscure but runs from the apex of the subbasal of the dorsum to the apex of
the wing, i.e. more longitudinally oblique than in Calyptra
or
Oraesia.
The male antennae are smooth or sparsely ciliate. The labial palps have the
second segment deeply scaled, but the third is much more slender, slightly
upturned.
In the
male abdomen, the eighth segment is of the framed corematous type, the sternite
modified to become rather shallow, with the corematous area almost obliterated,
and with the lateral bands rather pinched in on each side. The uncus, scaphium
and juxta resemble those of Oraesia. The valves are very broad, particularly
so distally, and the distal margin may be angular. As in Calyptra,
there are processes from the inner margin of the sacculus, one more or less
centrally and the other towards or at the valve apex (or there may be a sequence
of three), with two in the apical zone around the margin). The aedeagus vesica
is somewhat tubular, simple, and may have a cluster of spines distally.
The
female has the ostium associated with the anterior of a rather elongated eighth
segment, somewhat recessed within the seventh, where the sternite is distinctly
shortened and distally rounded. The apodemes of the eighth segment are often
reduced or vestigial. The ductus and bursa together are rather elongate and
slender, sometimes with zones of scobination or sclerotisation. The ductus
seminalis arises in various positions, sometimes (but not always) at the
position of broadening of the corpus bursae.
The
larva of coelonota has been described by Moore (1884-1887), Sevastopulo
(1946), Gardner (1947) and Bell (MS). It lacks prolegs on both A3 and A4, and A8
is slightly tumid dorsally. The head is orange, sometimes more reddish or
reddish brown. The body is violet black to black, with velvety black patches and
marked with grey patches, speckles, streaks and oblique bands, and sparsely
spotted with blue. The spiracles are yellow. Sevastopulo (1946) noted a lateral
white patch on A1 and A8, and dorsal white reticulation on A2. A4 is dorsally
grey, the rest white. It is possible that more than one species is involved in
these descriptions. The larva illustrated by Mutuura et al. (1965) is a very pale grey, marked with black dots
and white patches; the head is orange.
The
cocoon is described as spindle- or shuttle-shaped, made of white silk, covered
with fragments of chewed leaf or bark, leading to a general grey, greenish or
purplish-grey appearance. The cocoon is fixed along a twig or similar structure.
The pupa lacks a bloom.
Most
host records for this and other Oriental species (Miyata, 1983; Sugi, 1987;
Robinson et al., 2001) are from the Menispermaceae (Cocculus,
Cyclea,
Diploclisia
and
Stephania),
but the larva has also been reared on Garcinia (Guttiferae) and Lepisanthes
(Sapindaceae).
The
genus is pantropical and extends into temperate latitudes. In the
Indo-Australian tropics it extends east to Fiji and New Caledonia, both of which
support endemic species (Robinson, 1975; Holloway, 1979).
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