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Quadricalcarifera viridimaculata Matsumura
Quadricalcarifera
viridimaculata
Matsumura, 1922, Zool. Mag., Tokyo 34: 521.
Quadricalcarifera
bioculata
Kiriakoff, 1967: 42, syn. n.; Kiriakoff 1968: 120;Holloway 1976: 55,
fig. 364.
Diagnosis. The well defined white spots on the green forewing of the male are
distinctive; in trioculata (below) they are more blurred, with a distal
dentate process from the reniform. The subapical bar on the hindwing in both
sexes is broader than in trioculata and the margin of the wing is less
evenly rounded. In the female the greenish-brown patches of the forewing are
more clearly defined, there are no central submarginal spots and the black lines
across the costal zone are less oblique.
Taxonomic notes. Though externally this species resembles the next, the male genitalia
suggest a relationship with eusebia Kiriakoff (Sumatra) and allies.
The species was identified from the illustration of the holotype
(Taiwan) in Sugi (1979). Female specimens from the N.E. Himalaya may have been
confused in the past with fasciata Moore, described from the male only,
which is strikingly different from the male of viridimaculata but tends
towards the female in having a broad white marginal band to the forewing.
Possibly the taxon hasegawai, described from Malaya by Nakamura (1976),
will prove to be a synonym of viridimaculata, but the species was not
illustrated by its author.
Geographical range. N.E. Himalaya, China, Taiwan, Sundaland, Mindanao.
Habitat preference. This is a strictly montane species, taken from 1050 -
2600 m on G. Kinabalu and frequently at 1618 m on Bukit Retak in Brunei. The
lowest record is from 1000 m on G. Mulu. The species thus ranges from the lower
to upper montane forest zones.
Biology. Sevastopulo described a larva which produced an adult that he attributed
to fasciata (Sevastopulo 1938 - 47(3)). As it was a female it could have
been viridimaculata misidentified but the specimen has not been located.
The head of the larva is bluish green, the body green with a pale yellow collar;
there are fawn blotches dorsally on each segment; the spiracles and legs are
red, the prolegs green. The pupa is subterranean in an earthen cocoon. The host
was Quercus (Fagaceae). Gardner (1946) recorded Pterocarya (Juglandaceae)
as a host for fasciata but again this identification cannot be checked
from voucher specimens.
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