|
Achaea
serva Fabricius
Noctua
serva Fabricius, 1775, Syst. Ent.:
593.
Achaea
fasciculipes Walker,
1858, List
Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus., 14: 1400.
Achaea serva fuscosuffusa Gaede (ex Strand, 1914) 1938, Gross-Schmett. Erde 11: 480.
Achaea serva Fabricius;
Holloway. 1976: 30, 1982: 235; Kobes, 1985: 40.
|
Achaea
serva 
|
 |
 |
Diagnosis
and taxonomic note. This is the largest Bornean species, part of a major complex
reviewed by Holloway (1982). It has a less prominent pale medial band on the
hindwing above, compared with janata Linnaeus,
and does not have a conspicuously darker patch subtornally on the underside. The
forewing underside is more diffusely marked and less strongly variegated, but
has a discal lunule that is lacking in janata.
It is
possible that another member of the complex,
A. eusciasta Hampson,
may occur in Borneo. The underside is generally darker brown than in serva and the hindwing medial band is narrow, but otherwise the facies
is similar. The distribution of eusciasta is
mostly insular, with records from the Andamans, Nias, and Singapore in the
western part of its range, so occurrence on Borneo or its offshore islands is
possible. Male specimens should be dissected to check this possibility; the
diagnostic characters are described by Holloway (1982) and illustrated in Fig
30. There is also the possibility that A.
mercatoria Fabricius,
with a similar, rather insular distribution to eusciasta,
may be found in Borneo; it is smaller than serva,
with a slightly falcate forewing apex.
Geographical
range. Indo-Australian tropics to Okinawa, many western Micronesian
islands and New Guinea (ssp. fasciculipes);
Australia.
Habitat
preference. The species is frequent to common from the lowlands to 2600m,
in both forested and open habitats. It can be abundant in light-trap samples at
higher altitudes, but this may be as a result of hill-topping behaviour.
Biology.
The larva was described by Moore (1884-1887), Sevastopulo (1948) and Bell (MS),
and illustrated by Moore, though his portraits of adults also appear to include A.
mercatoria Fabricius.
The
head, in one larva described by Bell, is dark brown with yellow spots. The body
is a light rosy brown (Bell) or pale grey (Sevastopulo), speckled minutely and
densely with black, particularly in a wavy subdorsal band (also a puprlish brown
dorsal stripe according to Sevastopulo). The tubercles of A8 are orange-red,
with the ridge on which they are based lined black posteriorly. The ventrum is
paler, with reddish spots between the prolegs and black ones on other segments.
The larva illustrated by Moore is broadly stippled and variegated grey above,
the darker variegations somewhat triangular, and green below; a second larva
described by Bell appears closer to this but has lateral rusty pink spots, and a
dorsal ‘playing-card’ club-shape formed of black specks on A1. Bell also
described a third larva that was variegated yellowish and reddish brown with
darker brown spots and lines generating a marbled effect. There would therefore
seem to be great variablility, coupled with problems of separating very similar
species when the adults emerge.
Therefore
the list of host plants noted by these authors and reviewed by Robinson et
al.
(2001) must be treated with caution: Buchanania (Anacardiaceae); Ipomoea (Convolvulaceae);
Diospyros
(Ebenaceae);
Ricinus
(Euphorbiaceae);
Sapindus
(Sapindaceae);
Madhuca,
Manilkara,
Mimusops,
Palaquium,
Sideroxylon
(Sapotaceae).
Tominaga
(2000d) noted and illustrated similar colour variation in the mature larva in
Okinawa, such as in the extent of yellow patches on the brown head, and in the
variegation in lineation of the upper half of the body, from pale grey-brown
with black spectacles to dark brown with whitish blotches. He recorded Palaquium
as
a host plant, but also Planchonella in the same family, and Litsea
(Lauraceae).
The
adult is a fruit piercer (Bänziger, 1982; Kuroko & Lewvanich, 1993).
<<Back
>>Forward <<Return to Content Page
|
