|
Nygmia civitta
Swinhoe
comb. n.
Euproctis
civitta Swinhoe,
1903, Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (7), 12: 195.
Diagnosis. This and the next species, nova, have very similar facies of
whitish fasciation and marginal spots on a blackish forewing. The abdominal tuft
of both is yellow, distinct from the whitish ground colour of their wings. The
forewing antemedial is angled subdorsally in nova where it is straight in
civitta.
Taxonomic notes. Schintlmeister (1994) illustrated two further species that could be
confused with civitta and nova, but these have reduced marginal
spots and strong discal spots amid a distinctly darker medial zone: the
postmedial bounding this distally is more smoothly sigmoid. The species
concerned are N. corbetti Tams comb. rev, and N.
punctatofasciata van Eecke comb. n. (Sumatra). The former occurs in
Borneo as a distinct race, described below. All four species have male genitalia
with shared, distinctive features: valves with interior spines at the base of
the sacculus, and the margin also produced into long spines; a slender aedeagus
with an apical spur but an immaculate and relatively small vesica. The uncus is
typical of Nygmia. Bornean civitta has the valve spines slightly
different from those of the typical race from Peninsular Malaysia, with the
spine next distal from the saccular one smaller and more slender. The aedeagus
is also shorter. The juxta in nova is distinctly quadrifid dorsally, but
the valve has two processes, rather than four. In number of valve processes, corbetti
resembles nova, and punctatofasciata resembles civitta.
Geographical range. Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra.
Habitat preference. All records are from lowland forest, though not that
on acid soils. The species is uncommon.
<<Back
>>Forward <<Return
to Contents page
|
