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Avatha
pulchrior sp. n.
Athyrma
pulcherrima Butler sensu Holloway, 1976:
34.
Avatha
pulcherrima Butler sensu Barlow, 1982,
Plate 36: 8.
Pseudathyrma
pulcherrima Butler sensu Kobes, 1985,
Plate 13: 12, 19.
Avatha
pulchrior 
(paratype) |
 |
22-23mm. See pulcherrima above, which it
resembles very closely. Differences are minor but, in Borneo and Sumatra at
least, consistent: the distal edge of the antemedial band is straighter, less
produced at its dorsal angle; the basal edge is more angular; the gradation
from pale to dark in the centre of the submarginal zone is more irregular, less
smoothly curved and more frequently marked by darker chevrons of the
submarginal, which is more strongly zigzag subcostally. In the male genitalia
the distal processes on the valve are shorter than in pulcherrima, the one on the
right significantly more so such that it terminates well short of the valve
margin rather than extending well beyond it. In the aedeagus vesica the
scobination at the end of the long diverticulum is much finer than in pulcherrima and the larger
spines elsewhere are concentrated on one of the smaller diverticula rather than
being generally scattered.
Holotype . SARAWAK: Gunong Mulu Nat. Park,
R.G.S. Exped. 1977-8 (J.D.Holloway et
al.),
Site 17, March, nr. Long Melinau, 50m. 313441, low
secondary forest on river bank, BM noctuid slide
10727.
Paratypes: 1
general
data as holotype but Site 16, March, Long Pala (Base), 70m, 324450, alluv. /
second. for.; 1 BRUNEI: 30-60m, Labi,
lowland forest, 8.9.79 (Lt. Col. M.G. Allen); 1
(slide
9120) SABAH: Kundasan, 1050m, vii-ix.1965, Cambridge Expedition to Mt. Kinabalu
1965 (H.J. Banks, H.S. Barlow & J.D. Holloway).
Geographical range. Borneo, Sumatra,
Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Andamans, Sulawesi.
Habitat preference. The species is more confined to
the lowlands than pulcherrima, with all records (not all material retained)
during the Mulu survey being from alluvial forest, both mature and in an early
stage of regeneration, at around 70m. One specimen has been recorded from 1050m
at Kundasan, an area of cultivation on the southern slopes of G. Kinabalu. The
species would appear to be tolerant of disturbance.
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