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Notodontella
Roepke
Notodontella
nieuwenhuisi Roepke
Notodontella nieuwenhuisi Roepke,
1943, Natuur. Maandbl. Maastricht. 32: 79.
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Notodontella
nieuwenhuisi  (Java)
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Diagnosis. The species is small with forewings mainly pale, dull red with a darker
subapical area and very dark basal area, obliquely margined distad, a paler band
exterior to it. The two Bornean specimens available are in poor condition so a
Javan male is illustrated.
Taxonomic note. Kiriakoff (1968: 2) referred the genus Notodontella tentatively
to the Thyatiridae but it was returned to the Notodontidae by Watson, Fletcher
& Nye (1980) who drew attention to similarities between it and the Himalayan
Fentonia ferrifusa Dudgeon (Kiriakoff 1968: 190). The latter has been
reexamined and is hereby transferred to Notodontella, comb. n. The two
species have very similar forewing markings and male genitalia. The gnathal
processes in ferrifusa are relatively twice as broad, the ventral part of
the valve more abruptly narrowed before the terminal spine, and the general
angle of the dorsal spur is 60° instead of 30°. With such minor
differences there is a case for treating nieuwenhuisi as a subspecies of ferrifusa
but more material of each is needed.
Geographical range. Java, Borneo.
Habitat preference. The two Bornean specimens were taken at 250 m
(lowland forest) and 900 m (lower montane forest) on the limestone G. Api,
Sarawak.
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