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Xenochroa
chlorostigma
Hampson
Carea chlorostigma Hampson, 1893, Illust. typical Specimens lepid.
Heterocera Colln Br. Mus., 9: 101.
Dabareta
tumidistigma
Warren, 1916, Novit. zool., 23: 220.
Carea chlorostigma ab.
borneonis
Strand, 1917, Arch. Naturgesch., 82 (A1): 91.
Carea chlorostigma ab.
sikkimensis
Strand, 1917, Arch. Naturgesch., 82 (A1): 91.
Carea chlorostigma
borneonis
Gaede and sikkimensis
Gaede, 1937, Gross-Schmett. Erde, 11: 430.
Carea chlorostigma Hampson; Holloway, 1976: 23.
Xenochroa chlorostigma Hampson; Kobes, 1997: 135.
Diagnosis. The forewings are of a distinctive shape, apically slightly
falcate and with a central angle to the distal margin, reminiscent of some
Anomis
Hübner species. There are conspicuous, dark green reniform and orbicular
stigmata on the forewing, the orbicular with a much larger dark green patch
immediately posterior to it.
Taxonomic note. The forewing ground is paler and more variegated in ssp.
tumidistigma, and there is sexual dimorphism, females being larger than
males.
Geographical range. Sri Lanka, S. India; Himalaya to Sundaland, Philippines,
Sulawesi (ssp. tumidistigma).
Habitat preference. The species has been rare in recent surveys, represented
by three males from lowland forest (two from dipterocarp forest at 300m in the
Ulu Temburong of Brunei and one from alluvial forest at the foot of G. Mulu) and
two females from montane forest (1618m on Bukit Retak in Brunei and 1620m on G. Kinabalu).
Biology. Bell (MS) reared the typical race in India. The larva has the
thoracic berry-shaped tumidity typical of the Careini, with a bifid prominence
on A8 that is dull black, as are the anal claspers. The head is green, segments
A8-10 are otherwise orange. The broad dorsal band is olive-greenish brown, with
a darker dorsal line. There is a double white lateral line filled in with the
dorsal colour, white or orange. There is an orange spiracular band with some
purplish suffusion over the more posterior abdominal segments. Only primary
setae are present.
The pupa is as in
Carea
angulata,
with A7-10 forming a high dome without a cremaster.
The larvae are gregarious when young, separating later. They are found on the uppersides of leaves or conceal themselves with another leaf above, weaving a
silken cell. They eat the cuticle of mature leaves when young, but consume the
whole lamina when older. The cocoon is as in C. angulata but with the
anterior peak fatter, larger, with the tip turned backwards. The surface is a
glossy buffy-yellow with ‘burnt’ patches, and often has a dorsal tubercle and
other tubercles on its surface.
The host-plant was not given, but Mathur (1942) noted Eugenia (Myrtaceae)
and Memecylon (Melastomataceae). Brown (1968) noted Syzygium (Myrtaceae)
‘and other dicots’ as larval host-plants, and there is an unpublished IIE record
of Camellia (Theaceae).
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