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Comibaena
cassidara Guenée
Phodoresma [sic] cassidara Guenée, 1857, Hist. nat.
Insectes, Spec. gen. Lep. 9: 370.
Geometra detenta Walker, 1861, List Specimens lepid. insects
Colln Br. Mus., 22: 521.
Geometra dissessa Walker, 1861, Ibid. 22: 518.
Geometra dentata Moore, 1867, Proc. zool. Soc. Land., 1867: 636.
Comibaena cassidara
Guenée; Holloway, 1976: 61.
Diagnosis.
The forewing tornus and hindwing apex are only very narrowly rufous
brown.
The black discal spots are very small. The forewing has a faint, pale antemedial
line.
Taxonomic notes. This species, the next, C. quadrinotata Butler (N. India,
with relatives in Java (slide 16826) and Sulawesi (slide 18827)), C.
cheramota Meyrick (Fiji), and C. mariae Lucas (Australasian tropics)
all have a central spine on the male eighth tergite. This is also seen in some
African taxa such as C. leucospilata Walker. C. meyricki Prout (Talaut)
could be conspecific with cassidara.
Geographical range. India, China, Thailand, Singapore, Borneo.
Habitat preference. Records from Borneo are few and are associated with cultivated
areas such as at Tuaran (10m) and Bundu Tuhan (1200m) in Sabah (Holloway, 1976).
Biology. Singh (1957) gave a detailed account of the larva and its
chaetotaxy. There are long setiforous fleshy projections from the thorax and
abdomen. These are twined round with silken threads to which the larva attaches
fragments of the host-plant. The colour is mottled grey, brown and black (spirit
preserved specimens). The body is rugose with small conical spines.
Pupation is in a loose,
silken cocoon incorporating frass.
The host-plant given by
Singh was Glycosmis (Rutaceae), the larva feeding on flowers and young
pods. Unpublished IIE records are for: Anacardium, Mangifera (Anacardiaceae);
Cuscuta (Convolvulaceae); Flemingia (Leguminosae); Ziziphus (Rhamnaceae).
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