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Pleurona
falcata Walker
Pleurona
falcata Walker,
1866, List
Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus., 35:
1564.
Pleurona
simillima Swinhoe, 1917, Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (8),
20: 161, syn.
n.
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Pleurona
falcata  |
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Diagnosis.
The wings are a medium to dark reddish brown, fasciated darker. They grade
distinctly darker still and more purple in tint towards the distal margins. The
forewings are falcate apically, with a slight angle in the centre of the distal
margin.
The
fringes are whitish between the apex and this angle.
Taxonomic
note. Poole (1989) retained simillima Swinhoe
(Burma, Andamans) as a good species, but it appears identical to falcata.
Geographical
range. India,
Nepal, Burma, Thailand (VK), Andamans, Borneo, Bali, Sulawesi.
Habitat
preference. This is an infrequent species of lowland forest, possibly
favouring alluvial or riverine forest, and has not been recorded from above
200m.
Biology.
The species was reared in India by Bell (MS). The larva was described as a
rather flattened, euteliine type at A5-A6, but with prolegs on A4 half size and
those on A3 considerably reduced. The body is stoutest in the region of the
fully developed prolegs, but tapers most strongly over the thoracic segments.
The head is yellowish white, shaded pink. The body has thin, transparent skin
that is very light green with a light indigo dorsal line and an indistinct
yellow spiracular one. Each segment has a pinkish suffusion of transverse lines
from a more definite spiracular patch. The spiracles are light orange.
The
whitish, threadlike first instar larvae coincide with bud-burst of the host
plant in the Indian monsoon, and feed on the developing foliage which is red
initially. The larvae rest on veins or within folds of these leaves. Pupation is
on or near the ground in a loose, ovoid cell that incorporates particles of
earth or detritus. The pupa lacks a bloom.
The host
plant is Hymenodictyon (Rubiaceae).
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