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Nycteola
indicatana
Walker comb. n.
Tortrix indicatana Walker, 1863, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br.
Mus., 28: 333.
Subrita?
parvella
Walker, 1866, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus., 35: 1747.
Gyrtothripa
microdonta
Hampson, 1912, Cat. Lepid. Phalaenae Br. Mus., 11: 449.
Symitha indicatana
ferrugana
Fletcher, 1957, Nat. Hist. Rennell Island, 2: 44.
Diagnosis. See mesoplaga above.
Taxonomic note. The other Indo-Australian species previously placed in
Symitha, N.
nolalella
Walker comb. n. (= N.
albescens
Wileman & West syn. n.) has a similar but less disjunct range to
indicatana and may therefore prove also to occur in Borneo. The facies is
more as in mesoplaga but the insect is smaller with narrower forewings,
the central costal grey area being quadrate rather than triangular, but less
clearly distinguished. The male genitalia in nolalella are distinguished
particularly by a tongue-like process forming the apex of each valve. Bornean
indicatana appear referable to ssp. microdonta rather than the much
darker, greyer ssp. parvella.
Geographical range. Indian Subregion (ssp. indicatana); Singapore,
Borneo (ssp. microdonta); Java (ssp. parvella); ?Sulawesi, Dammer;
Rennell I. (Solomons; ssp. ferrugana).
Habitat preference. Two specimens have been taken in the lowlands of Brunei,
from Kampong Kiarang and the coastal locality of Kampong Kapok.
Biology. The K. Kiarang specimen was reared from Eugenia (Myrtaceae).
N. nolalella has been reared from both Eugenia and
Lagerstroemia (Lythraceae) (Yunus & Ho, 1980; Robinson et al., 2001).
It was reared from the latter in India by Sevastopulo (1944). The body is pale
green, the head more yellowish green. There are traces of a dark dorsal line,
and the primary setae are white, arising from white dots. There is also a pale
spiracular line. The larvae live semi-gregariously on young shoots that they
cover with a slight web of silk. Pupation is in a canoe-shaped, pure white
silken cocoon with a short fringe of erect threads around the flattened dorsal
surface.
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