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Nygmia javana Aurivillius
comb. n.
Euproctis varia javana Aurivillius, 1894, Ent.
Tidskr. 15 (2): 174.
Nygmia javana 
Nygmia javana 
(Sumatra)
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Diagnosis and taxonomic note. Males of this and the next two species can only be
distinguished reliably by their genitalia. The complex was reviewed by Holloway (1982b), with some caution over assignation of males to epirotica
Collenette, based on a female. Only rearing of both sexes from a single
mother will establish such associations reliably. The situation in javana is
complicated by the occurrence of two forms of both sexes in the type locality,
but not elsewhere in Sundaland. It is further complicated by discovery of a
second species in Borneo and Sumatra, described next. Both javana and the
new species have short ventral processes on the valve, whereas this is as long
as the dorsal one in epirotica: there are also differences in the saccus
and vesica. In the female, epirotica has a squarer, broader vaginal
plate, a longer bursa and a more prominent signum.
Geographical range. Sundaland.
Habitat preference. Only a single javana male has definitely been
identified for Borneo, from Samarinda in the lowlands of south-east Kalimantan.
Biology. Kalshoven (1981) described the larva (as varia/oreosaura) as
short, stout, dirty brown, with paired tufts on A1 and A2. The setae are
urticating. The larvae are gregarious. Pupation is in a greyish brown cocoon.
The host-plant was the non-native Cinchona (Rubiaceae).
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