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Snellenita Kiriakoff
Snellenita divaricata Gaede
Snellenita
divaricata Gaede
(ex Snellen, in litt.), 1930: 614.
Snellenita
divaricata Snellen
[Gaede] ; Kiriakoff 1968: 61.
Diagnosis. The general appearance is Phalera-like but the pale area at the
forewing margin is more central, bordered basally by a brown area that extends
to the postmedial.
Geographical range. Sundaland.
Habitat preference. The only Bornean specimen examined was a male from
hill dipterocarp forest on the lower slopes of G. Mulu, Sarawak.
Biology. The life history of the Indian sister species, diversa Hampson,
is known (Bell, MS) but not that of divaricata. The larva of diversa has
a slug-like body, thickest over the anterior abdominal segments, tapering from a
diameter of 11 mm at that point to 4 mm; the anal claspers are splayed at right
angles and stretched out behind. The head is large, round, a shining greyish
white with a purple tinge and marked with dark brown lines. The body is smooth,
dull, with fine, short, brown hairs, grass-green, sometimes tinged yellow, with
a faint yellow supraspiracular line over the abdominal segments in early
instars; the anal flap is blackish, slightly shining; the spiracles are black,
ringed with brown or white.
The larvae live on the undersides of young leaves of the host-plant, Memecylon
(Melastomataceae), moving sluggishly. Pupation occurs on the surface of the
ground in an oval grey-brown cocoon anchored by about ten broad, short straps of
silk arranged radially.
The eggs are attached in rows of about nine to the midrib of the upper
surface of a leaf. They are dull yellow, tinged with white one third from the
base, depressed spherical in shape.
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