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Blenina
donans
Walker
Blenina donans Walker, 1857 [1858], List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln
Br. Mus., 13: 1215.
Amphipyra
laportei
Felder & Rogenhofer, 1874, Reise öst. Fregatte Novara: pl. 111, fig. 28.
Blenina
grisea
Moore, 1877, Proc. zool. Soc. Lond., 1877: 607.
Blenina
pannosa
Moore, 1881, Descr. new Indian lepid. Insects Colln W.S. Atkinson: 157.
Blenina
metachrysa
Turner, 1902, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 27: 89.
Blenina
triphoenopsis
Hampson, 1905, Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (7), 16: 545.
Blenina donans ab.
donantis
Strand, 1917, Arch. Naturgesch., 82 (A1): 87.
Blenina donans ab.
similis
Strand, 1917, Arch. Naturgesch., 82 (A1): 88.
Blenina donans
donatis
Gaede and
similis
Gaede, 1937, Gross-Schmett. Erde, 11: 409.
Diagnosis. The grey forewings are marked typically for the genus. This is
the only Bornean species with bordered yellow hindwings. The hindwings are
similar below, lacking any medial fascia except at the costa.
Geographical range. Indo-Australian tropics to New Guinea, Queensland, New
Caledonia.
Habitat preference. The species is infrequent in lowland and lower montane
forest, the highest record being a single specimen from 1618m on Bukit Retak in
Brunei. During the Mulu survey, two-thirds of the material (12 specimens) was
taken on the transect of the limestone G. Api.
Biology. The life history in India was described by Bell (MS). The larva is
subcylindrical, T2-A1 slightly tumid. All prolegs are present and fully
developed. The body is smooth, the segments well defined, primary setae only
borne on small, disc-like tubercles (pinacula). The head is also smooth,
yellowish green. The body is grass green with the venter tinged blue. The
spiracles are orange, and some pinacula are thinly edged with black.
The pupa is broadly rounded anteriorly, the abdomen conical with the terminal
segments forming a low convex cap. The cocoon is described below.
The larva lives on the underside of young, tender leaves when freshly hatched,
but rests fully stretched along a twig or branch in later instars. It pupates on
a sturdy leaf in a cocoon, spinning a light yellow carpet of silk, pyriform with
four extensions arranged symmetrically round it. From this walls of silk are
constructed, joined along the dorsal line with a slight peak anteriorly extended
with a hollow dorsal process that is flexed backwards. The moth exits from a
vertical slit in this anterior portion. The rest of the cocoon is dome-like with
further small peaks, truncated posteriorly so that, with the four extensions, it
resembles somewhat a tortoise with head held erect!
The host-plant was Diospyros (Ebenaceae).
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