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Mocis
frugalis Fabricius
Noctua
frugalis Fabricius, 1775, Syst. Ent.:
601.
Chalciope
lycopodia Geyer, 1837, Hübner’s Zuträge Samml. exot. Schmett.,
5: 25.
Remigia
translata Walker,
1865, List
Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus., 33: 1015.
Remigia
nigripunctata Warren,
1913, Gross-Schmett.
Erde, 3: 333.
Mocis
frugalis Fabricius; Holloway, 1976: 31; Kobes, 1985: 49.
Diagnosis.
The general ground colour of both wings is as in Trigonodes hyppasia,
but lacking the black triangles. There are oblique, straight, anteriorly
convergent postmedial and submarginal fasciae in darker brown, the former
linear, paler edged basad, and the lattter punctate. There is also a darker
brown shade longitudinally and subdorsally extending from the postmedial basad.
Taxonomic
note. Zilli (2000b) recognised that the old concept of frugalis
is
better treated as two distinct species: Afrotropical proverai Zilli;
Indo-Australian frugalis.
Geographical
range. Indo-Australian tropics east to Rapa I.
Habitat
preference. The species is usually found in similar habitats to its
congener, but records extend up to 1620m.
Biology.
There are several accounts of the life history (Moore, 1884-1887; Semper,
1896-1902; Gardner, 1941, 1947; Sevastopulo, 1948).
The egg
is darkish green, blotched with dark purple, spherical with numerous vertical
ribs. The larva lacks prolegs on A3 and A4. The head is blackish, divided by
numerous fine, pale lines. The larva is greenish initially, greenish white or
pale brown when mature. The greenish white larva (Sevastopulo) has three purple
lines on each side. The browner one (Moore) has several longitudinal lines of
darker brown. The most detailed description (Gardner) has the body with a dorsal
white stripe containing two red lines. This stripe is flanked by broader,
streaky blackish stripes which can extend and darken towards the spiracles.
Below there is a yellow stripe that extends to below the spiracles, with
numerous red or brown striae above the spiracles, and two further black lines.
Pupation
is in a cocoon with leaves, soil or detritus bound together with silk.
Most
host plants (Robinson et al., 2001) are Gramineae, including Andropogon,
Eleusine,
Oryza,
Panicum,
Paspalum,
Saccharum,
Sorghum
and
Zea,
but other monocotyledons are also noted: Typhonium (Araceae);
Cyperus
(Cyperaceae);
Zingiberaceae. Some Leguminosae (Glycine,
Medicago,
Vigna)
are also recorded.
The
adult is known as a fruit piercer in Thailand (Bänziger, 1982; Kuroko &
Lewvanich, 1993).
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