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Porsica
curvaria Hampson
Gargetta curvaria Hampson, 1892, Fauna of British India,
Moths 1:136.
Porsica curvaria Hampson; Kiriakoff 1968: 27.
Diagnosis. This is the smallest Bornean Porsica, the forewing being pale
greyish brown in colour with darker markings, the most prominent being an oblong
dark brown mark subbasally on the dorsum. The hindwing is darker distally but
lacks the well defined marginal band of the other species (also lacking in circumducta).
Taxonomic notes. The male genitalia are intermediate in structure between typical Gargetta
and Porsica.
P. palua Kiriakoff from Sulawesi is probably best placed as a subspecies of curvaria
stat. n. as the male genitalia are very similar: there is asymmetry, with
the ventral process of the right harpe very short, the dorsal one and the two
left ones long, one third the length of the valve, the left dorsal one flexed
ventrally to cross the ventral one. The Bornean male has the right valve typical
but the left valve has the ventral process of medium size and also flexed
ventrally. Gargetta dyspines West, from Luzon, may also be related but no
males are available for study. Stictogargetta umbrina Kiriakoff (1974:
380) from Sumatra is also closely related to, if not synonymous with, curvaria
and is therefore here transferred to Porsica, comb. n.
Geographical range. N.E. Himalaya, Borneo, ?Sumatra; Sulawesi.
Habitat preference. Unknown; only a single Bornean male has been seen,
from Tenom in Sabah.
Biology. Gardner (1943) described the larva of Indian curvaria. It is of
typical Porsica form. The head is pale brown with a dark red stripe on
each side running back from the ocelli. The body is pale yellow-green with dark
reddish dorsolateral stripes on the thoracic segments and red marks on abdominal
segments 7 and 8. The legs and prolegs are tinged red. The stematopods are
invested with short black hairs arising from black spots.
The host-plant is Bischofia (Bischofiaceae).
Porsica primaria Schintlmeister (1981: 291) flies in Borneo as well as
Sumatra. It is not a notodontid but a galleriine pyralid, already described
under the name Prosthenia psittacolella Hampson. Hence primaria must
be sunk to psittacolella, syn. n.
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