Marumba dyras Walker
Smerinthus dyras Walker, 1856, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln. Br.
Mus., 8: 25.
Marumba dyras Walker; Rothschild & Jordan, 1907: 274.
Triptogon javanica Butler, 1875, Proc. zool. Soc. Lond., 1875: 254.
Marumba dyras
(Java)
(.65
natural size)
|
Diagnosis.
This the smallest species known from Borneo, perhaps somewhat paler than
other species, with rufous brown hindwings. On the forewings beyond the
discal mark the weak second and fourth fasciae are close to the stronger
first and fifth ones, a feature only seen elsewhere, and not so markedly,
in juvencus; juvencus has the marginal zone of the forewing below
distinctly darker than the rest whereas it is only weakly so in dyras.
The
ground colour of the forewing often varies in darkness over the wing.
Taxonomic notes. Sundanian material is referable to ssp. javanica.
Geographical range. N. India and S. China to the Philippines, Borneo and
the Lesser Sundas as far east as Tenimber.
Habitat preference. One male only has been taken on the coast of Brunei at
Seria (Harman, 1981).
Biology. Dupont & Roepke (1941) have described the early stages in
Java. The newly hatched larva is white with a black horn. Later instars
are green with the oblique stripes yellow; the final instar is bluish
green; the horn is green and the body is covered in granular spines. The
head is triangular. Variants are yellow with reddish brown oblique
stripes, or green with dorsal yellow patches, but these are rare. The
larva is India is similar (Bell & Scott, 1937).
Recorded host-plants (Bell & Scott, 1937; Dupont & Roepke, 1941;
Pholboon, 1965) are: Bombax, Ceiba (Bombacaceae); Bridelia
(Euphorbiaceae);
Cajanus (Leguminosae); Hibiscus, Kydia (Malvaceae); Schleichera
(Sapindaceae);
Buettneria, Helicteres, Pterospermum, Sterculia (Sterculiaceae); Grewia
(Tiliaceae).
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