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Chalcocelis
albiguttatus Snellen
Limacodes albiguttatus Snellen,
1879, Tijdschr. Ent. 22: 118.
Miresa fumifera Swinhoe, 1890, Trans. ent. Soc. Lond. 1890:
195.
Miresa nigriplaga Heylaerts, 1890, Comp. rend. Soc. ent. Belg.
34: 28.
Miresa sanguineomaculata Heylaerts,
1890, Ibid., 34:28.
Altha pulchrimacula Hulstaert,
1924, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (9) 13: 139.
Chalcocelis albiguttata Snellen;
Hering, 1931: 686.
Diagnosis. The female can be confused with Chalcoscelides castaneipars as
discussed for the latter. The male is distinguished from other similar sized
blackish species by the black circle on the forewing mentioned in the generic
description. Specimens from Sundaland and Sulawesi have a prominent setose lobe
centrally on the valve as illustrated and the valve apex is triangular.
Specimens from New Guinea and Queensland have the setose lobe vestigial and the
apex acute or with only a vestige of the dorsal subapical angle. The name hemistaura Lower ( = nephrochrysa Lower)
is available for this eastern form at subspecific level. Material from Saleyer,
near Sulawesi, is intermediate. Material from Mindanao and Luzon in the
Philippines also has the valves with the setose lobe absent or virtually so, and
the valve tapering to a simple point, but C. wilemani West, with a
"female-coloured" male, has genitalia much as in typical albiguttatus:
the status of Philippines taxa requires further investigation.
Geographical range. S. Thailand, Sundaland, Sulawesi; Moluccas, New
Guinea, Queensland, ?Philippines.
Habitat preference. The species has been found to be infrequent in a
variety of hill habitat types, mainly rainforest types such as lowland
dipterocarp forest, kerangas and coastal forest.
Biology. The eggs, larva and its parasites are described by Kalshoven (1981). The
eggs are transparent, flat, almost scale-like, laid singly or in small groups on
the host-plant. The larva is convex, ovoid, gelatinous, transparent bluish to
yellowish green with five indistinct lighter longitudinal stripes. It is
polyphagous, the diet including Cocos (Kalshoven 1981), Coffea (Rubiaceae)
and Erythrina (Leguminosae) (Piepers & Snellen 1900), Aleurites (Euphorbiaceae),
Eugenia (Myrtaceae), Hydnocarpus (Flacourtiaceae), Acacia (Leguminosae)
and Gardenia (Rubiaceae) (Corbett 1932).
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