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Racotis
boarmiaria Guenée
Hypochroma boarmiaria Guenée,
1857, Syst. nat. Ins., Spec. Gen. Lep. 9: 282.
Racotis boarmiaria obliterata Warren,
1894, Novit. zool. 1: 432.
Racotis boarmiaria plenifasciata Warren,
1894, Novit. zool. 1: 432.
Racotis boarmiaria japonica Inoue,
1953, Tinea, 1:16.
Racotis boarmiaria Guenée;
Holloway, 1976: 80.
Racotis
boarmiaria  |
Racotis
boarmiaria Guenée |
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Diagnosis. This and R.. inconclusa are difficult to separate on external
features, the most useful characteristics being on the underside. In inconclusa
the submarginal dark border is blacker, more clearly defined, particularly
in relation to the marginal pale zone. The basal pale zone mostly lacks the
irregular speckling seen in boarmiaria, and the discal spots are crisper.
The male genitalia are distinctive, as illustrated.
Geographical range. N.E. Himalaya to Taiwan and Borneo; Japan.
Habitat preference. The species was most frequent in the lower montane
zone (900-1000m) during the Mulu survey, but was taken as high as 1790m on G.
Mulu. On G. Kinabalu it ranged from 1050-2110m, being abundant at sites at 1620m
and 1930m.
Biology. The typical subspecies has been reared in Hong Kong by M.J. Bascombe (pers.
comm.). The larva (above) is bright green, marked with black dorsally,
extending laterally in triangles, and with white lineation and areas of rather
leprous white suffusion. The larva of the Japanese subspecies has been
illustrated by Sato (1984a) and Sugi (1987). It is brownish green, with diffuse,
darker triangular patches on some segments dorsolaterally that extend to a
lateral line that is diffuse dorsally, delineated sharply ventrally. Host-plant
records (Sato, 1984a) are from Lindera, Neolitsea, Parabenzoin, and, in
Hong Kong, Litsea cubeba, (Lauraceae).
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