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Delgamma
pangonia Guenée
Bendis
pangonia Guenée, 1852, Hist. Nat. Insectes, Spec. gén. Lépid.
7:
214.
Naxia
calorifica Walker,
1858, List
Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus., 14: 1406.
Delgamma
sanctae Prout, 1927, Trans. ent. Soc. London,
75: 223.
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Delgamma
pangonia  |
Delgamma
pangonia |
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Diagnosis.
The caramel brown wings with straight fasciae separating off a marginal area
with pale mauve suffusion are distinctive; the anterior part of the forewing
marginal area incorporates a lens-shaped area of ground colour and the costa and
a few smaller patches posterior to it. The male has an elongate hyaline area
near the anterior of the hindwing between veins M1 and M2 (Zilli, 2000a; see
also pp. 144, 264).
Geographical
range. Sao Thome, West Africa, Indo-Australian tropics east to ?New
Guinea and Queensland. Zilli (2000a) discussed variation over this range.
Habitat
preference. The species is rare in Borneo, two specimens taken during the
Mulu survey being from 150m and 1000m on the Mulu transect, with an older
specimen in BMNH labelled as from the Baram area nearby. A fourth specimen was
taken by S.J. Willott in lowland forest at 170m near the Danum Valley Field
Centre, and a fifth was from 1618m on Bukit Retak in Brunei. Further older
material in BMNH is from lowland localities: Bidi in Sarawak; Samarinda and in
the vicinity of Pontianak in Kalimantan.
Biology.
The larva was described by Bell (MS). It is generally ophiusine in shape but
lacks tubercles on A8. Prolegs are absent from A3 and reduced on A4. The head is
white with a pinkish tinge, reticulated with brown and banded maroon. The body
has a pale grey ground, marbled and dotted brown, some of this forming vague
longitudinal bands. A1 has a large, circular, fuscous patch dorsally, bordered
behind by a slight yellowish transverse ridge, and laterally by blackish rufous
marks; this segment is often held humped with the patch at the top.
Pupation
is in a light cocoon within a cell of leaves or on the ground. The pupa has a
bluish white bloom.
The host
plant was Connarus (Connaraceae).
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