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Papuacola
gemina Fabricius comb. n.
Hyblaea
gemina Fabricius, 1794, Ent. Syst. 3(2):
128.
Egnasia
ruficeps Hampson, 1896, Fauna Br. India (Moths) 4:
537.
Zethes
(Cultripalpa) rufalia Bethune-Baker, 1906, Novit.
Zool. 13:
275.
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Papuacola
gemina  |
Papuacola
gemina |
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Diagnosis.
This is a smaller darker, browner species than the previous one, more variable,
with a broader, less distinct and more basal brown band in the forewing medial
zone. The costa may have a grey band along it that tapers much more strongly
distad than in the next species, and the subapical brown mark is smaller, an
almost equilateral triangle. The marginal area of the forewing is paler, greyer,
anterior to a sharp line running in from the central marginal angle.
Geographical
range. Indian Subregion, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra (HS / ZSM), Bali,
Borneo, Sulawesi, New Guinea.
Habitat
preference. All six Bornean specimens seen are from lowland forest at
around 150m: at Brumas in Sabah (now cleared); on a river terrace embankment
west of the Melinau Gorge near G. Mulu; at the foot of G. Mulu; in the vicinity
of the Danum Valley Field Centre. In the last locality S.J. Willott (unpublished
data) recorded the species infrequently in the forest understorey.
Biology.
The species was reared by Bell (MS). The larva is cylindrical, lacking prolegs
on A3; those on A4 are half the size of the other pairs. The head is light
orange with light brown setae and blackish ocelli. The body is light
olive-green, with the setae on black chalazae within paler haloes. There is a
white subdorsal line and a double subspiracular one. The spiracles are brown
with black borders. The larvae rest on the undersides of leaves, eating mainly
younger ones. They can be plentiful in some years, stripping their hosts of
foliage. Pupation is in a tube rolled from a leaf lamina, lined thinly inside
with white silk and closed at each end with a disc of leaf. The pupa squirms in
the cylinder, producing a hissing sound.
The host
plant was Aglaia (Meliaceae).
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