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Dysaethria
subflavida Swinhoe comb. n.
Epiplema subflavida Swinhoe,
1906, Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (7), 17: 553.
Epiplema moza Butler sensu Holloway, 1976: 87.
Diagnosis. The upperside is dark brown with strongly angled fasciae, particularly
the forewing antemedial. The hindwing has a marginal pale fleck between the
tails and another, smaller one by the more posterior tail. The underside is of a
more ochreous yellow-brown.
Taxonomic notes. The facies indicates the species is related to D. moza Butler
comb. n. (Japan) and allies in the Himalaya and Taiwan (D. suisharyonis Strand
comb. n.). It is larger, with a yellower tinge to the underside. The male
genitalia have the uncus broad as moza but with the paired processes
differently shaped, the more basal pair broader. The valve has the setae
centrally and more evenly distributed rather than divided into two fields with
the setae in the larger, more distal field more robust. The aedeagus is
narrower, with the cornutus slender rather than short, robust. D.
suisharyonis has only the robust field of setae on the valves and the
cornutus is larger. The female genitalia have a longer ductus and the two signa
near the base of the bursa are more robust, more stoutly spined, well separate
rather than united across a broad triangle of sclerotisation.
Geographical range. Java, Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia (FRIM colln).
Habitat preference. A single specimen has been taken at 1760m on G.
Kinabalu.
Biology. The larva of D. moza was illustrated by Sugi (1987). It is stout,
bluish white, with prominent setae and a ring of black spots (pinacula for the
setae) round each segment, some linked by weaker longitudinal black lines. The
larva of suisharyonis, illustrated by Chen (1997), is similar, but with
the black spots more confluent, the dorsal ones forming a continuous row of
crosses along the central part of the body.
The host-plants recorded in each case were species of Viburnum (Caprifoliaceae).
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