SUBFAMILY ARCTIINAE
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Nyctemera baulus Boisduval  
   
Leptosoma baulus Boisduval, 1832, Fauna ent. Pacifique, Voyage Astrolabe p. 200.
   
Nyctemera baulus Boisduval; Roepke, 1949: 50, 1957: 150, 168; Holloway, 1976: 5; Barlow, 1982:
       75.


Nyctemera baulus


Diagnosis.
This species is distinguished from others with a transversely banded, basally pale grey abdomen and a dentate inner border to the hindwing marginal band, by the fine whitish delineation of all the veins at the base of the forewing.

Taxonomic notes. Several races are recognised in the range of the species, but the Bornean population belongs to mundipicta Walker (Roepke, 1957).

Geographical range. Sundaland to N. Australia and Samoa.

Habitat preference. This is a widespread sometimes common species of lowland (up to 1200m) secondary, disturbed and agricultural ecosystems.

Biology. Robinson (1975) described the larva in Fiji. The head is pale orange brown. The body is yellowish cream with broad transverse bands of brownish black on each segment. The mesothorax has a pair of hair-pencils; each segment has verrucae with black and pale hairs. The host-plants noted were Brassica (Cruciferae), Emilia and Crassocephalum (Compositae). The species was also recorded from Crassocephalum by McFarland (1979).

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