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Erygia
apicalis Guenée
Erygia
apicalis Guenée, 1852, Hist. Nat. Insectes, Spec. gén. Lépid.
7:
50.
Calicula
exempta Walker,
1858, List
Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus., 15: 1808.
Calicula
squamiplena Walker,
1858, List
Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus., 15: 1808.
Erygia
usta Walker,
1865, List
Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus., 33: 918.
Dianthoecia geometroides Walker,
1865, List
Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br.
Mus.,
33: 722.
Sypna
watanabii Holland,
1889, Trans.
Amer. ent. Soc., 16: 76.
Erygia
apicalis tamsi Hulstaert, 1924, Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (9),
13: 123.
Erygia
apicalis Guenée; Holloway, 1976: 32.
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Erygia
apicalis
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Diagnosis.
The wings are a dark blackish brown, the forewings finely variegated and
fasciated. The postmedial has the type of loop mentioned in the generic account,
being stepped basad just posterior to the reniform. The antemedial encloses
basad two dentate black patches on either side of the anal vein, and there is a
similar, broadly lunulate patch arising from the costa subapically. Elements of
the facies of E.
spissa Guenée
are similar but set on a pale grey ground.
Geographical
range. Indo-Australian tropics to Japan, Queensland and the Solomons.
Habitat
preference. The species is common in the lowlands in a wide range of
habitats, including dry heath forest and (Chey, 1994) softwood plantations, and
extends with decreasing frequency to as high as 2110m.
Biology.
The larva was described by Gardner (1947) and Bell (MS), and illustrated by
Mutuura et
al.
(1965). The prolegs on A3 are distinctly reduced and those on A4 are also
reduced. The body has an unusual ventrolateral margin that has a fringe of
branching, filamentous outgrowths. The head is broader than deep, grey-brown
with darker reticulation (Gardner). The body is the same colour with darker
stippling; Bell described it as mottled yellowish and chocolate brown, with some
indication of longitudinal bands. There are transverse black bands over the
dorsum between A1 and A2 and between A2 and A3; these are exposed on the
intersegmental membrane when the body is humped. The ventral surface is light
green with a brownish red patch in the middle of each segment.
Pupation
is in a thick cocoon that incorporates debris usually in the ground. The pupa
has a light bloom.
The
recorded host plants are all in the Leguminosae (Miyata, 1983; Sugi, 1987;
Robinson et al., 2001): Acacia, Albizia,
Desmodium,
Flemingia,
Pueraria,
Wisteria.
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