|
“Parallelia”
arctotaenia Guenée
Ophiusa
arctotaenia Guenée, 1852, Hist. Nat. Insectes, Spec. gén. Lépid.
7:
272.
Parallelia
arctotaenia Guenée; Holloway, 1976: 30.
|
“Parallelia”
arctotaenia 
|
 |
 |
Diagnosis.
The facies is reminiscent of that of Bastilla crameri Moore
(see p. 67) but the moth is much smaller, lacks a distinctive spot at the
hindwing tornus, and has the distal border of the trapezoid costal mark notched
rather than straight.
Taxonomic
note. The male genitalia have reduced complexity compared to other
genera in the complex and the female has a complicated antevaginal plate as
illustrated, with both sexes showing bilateral asymmetry (Holloway & Miller,
2003). The male valves each bear a single corema. The species therefore is
rather isolated taxonomically.
Geographical
range. Japan,
Korea and Indo-Australian tropics east to New Guinea and Queensland; also
recorded in Vanuatu and Fiji (Robinson, 1975), and there is a specimen in BMNH
from the Cook Is.
Habitat
preference. The only Bornean specimen seen was taken at 2600m on G.
Kinabalu. Robinson (1976) considered it a species of disturbed habitats on Fiji.
Biology.
The larva was illustrated by Sugi (1987). It is an elongate, slender semi-looper,
with the prolegs on A3 vestigial and those on A4 reduced. The anal prolegs are
usually splayed out behind. The colour is greyish brown, finely and densely
lineated with darker brown longitudinally. The dorsal zone (narrowly) and the
dorsolateral zone (broadly) is paler than the rest of the body. There is a pair
of black spots marking small tubercles in the darker subdorsal bands on A8, and
a black-ringed, ochreous to white patch on each side just within the
dorsolateral pale zone towards the posterior of A1. The head is speckled paler
rather than striated.
The
host-plants noted by Sugi were Quercus (Fagaceae),
Rosa
(Rosaceae)
and Salix
(Salicaceae);
see also Miyata (1983). Semper (1896-1902) recorded the larva from Ricinus
(Euphorbiaceae)
in the Philippines.
The
adult has been noted to pierce fruit in Thailand (Bänziger, 1982; Kuroko &
Lewvanich, 1993).
<<Back
>>Forward <<Return to Content Page
|
