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Darna (Orthocraspeda) trima ajavana
ssp. n.
Orthocraspeda trima
Moore, in Horsfield & Moore, 1859: 416.
Darna trima Moore; Hering 1931: 719.
This subspecies is externally identical to typical trima but
differs in characters of the genitalia. In the male the long, slender processes
of the uncus are set apart rather than being adjacent. The processes from the
valve costa are relatively longer, the smaller one flexed, apically rounded,
rather than straight and more acute, and the larger one with the most distal
angle sharper so the apical portion is directed ventrally rather than towards
the apex of the valve. In the female the bursa and ductus are broader, the
former with a scobinate signum absent in the typical race, and the pairs of
lobes on the lamella vaginalis are much broader, and distinctively crinkled.
Darna trima ajavana on oil palm in Peninsular Malaysia
(M.J.W. Cock).
Holotype 
SARAWAK: Kuching, 1 .iv.1962 (C.R. Wallace) BM limacodid slide 328.
Paratypes. l 6105,
SARAWAK, BM limacodid slide 816; l,
3
SARAWAK (C.R. Wallace).
The subspecies also occurs in Sumatra, Singapore and Peninsular
Malaysia.
Geographical range. Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra; Java.
Habitat preference. Most material to hand has been from agricultural
areas though specimens have been taken at light in dry heath forest and hill
dipterocarp forest in Brunei.
Biology. Wood (1968) has illustrated the larva of this subspecies and that of the
typical subspecies was described by Horsfield & Moore (1859), Piepers &
Snellen (1900) and Kalshoven (1981). It is possible that the green on the flanks
of ajavana may be more yellow and less extensive than in the Javan race.
It is present in the Philippines species but furva from Hong Kong (M.J.
Bascombe, photo) has the flank patches white. The larva is illustrated on Plate
9.
The mature larva is relatively elongate, swollen more over the anterior
half. The dorsolateral scoli are small, the laterals increasing from front to
back both in their own length and in the length of their spines. The
upper surface is medium chocolate brown, dorsally translucent, with paler thin
subdorsal lines which are flanked by pairs of dark spots along their length.
An elongate triangular zone along the flanks is bright green edged
yellowish then white along its dorsal margin; the brown dorsal zone is darkened
where it meets the white edging.
The species is a pest of oil palm (Elaeis), coconut (Cocos), and
feeds on other palms, banana (Musa), Coffea (Rubiaceae) Psidium,
Eugenia (Myrtaceae), Imperata (Gramineae), Theobroma (Sterculiaceae),
tea (Camellia), Citrus (Rutaceae) and many other plants.
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