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Ochropleura
costalis Moore
Ochropleura costalis Moore, 1867, Proc. zool. Soc. Lond. 1867: 56.
Diagnosis.
The forewing
costa is broadly pale creamy white, edged posteriorly by a black wedge within
which the orbicular and reniform stigmata stand out paler.
Taxonomic
notes. In
valve shape and in the weaker, fine scobination of the basal lobe of the
aedeagus vesica, the single Bornean specimen resembles typical Indian costalis.
In Java (slide 12955) there flies a taxon with the valve constricted
subapically almost into a cucullus, and with an array of long, needle-like
spines on the broad lobe of the aedeagus vesica. There is a further species in
Luzon (slide 9677) with an aedeagus similar to costalis but with the
basal ventral process of the harpe much more strongly developed. O. ignota Swinhoe
from Sri Lanka is somewhat different in facies to the Holarctic plecta and
to costalis but has genitalia comparable to those of the latter. O.
costalis is more reddish grey with a more uniform submarginal area to the
forewing. A single specimen from New Guinea (slide 14082) has genitalia
differing slightly from those of costalis (narrower valves, more curved
harpe lacking a ventral spur, smaller aedeagus vesica cornutus and much more
weakly scobinate ventral lobes) and probably represents a further species in the
complex.
Geographical
range. N.E.
Himalaya, Borneo.
Habitat
preference. Bornean
material is limited to a single male without precise data taken in Sabah by H.S.
Barlow.
Biology.
O. plecta has
been recorded as feeding as a larva on plants from a number of families such as
Caryophyllaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Plantaginaceae, Compositae, Polygonaceae and
Rubiaceae.
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