|
Ectropis
bhurmitra Walker
Boarmia bhurmitra Walker, 1860, List Specimens lepid. Insects
Colln Br. Mus., 21: 381.
Boarmia diffusaria Walker,
1860, Ibid. 21: 381.
Scioglyptis semifascia Warren,
1897, Novit. zool., 4: 248.
Ectropis sabulosa Warren, 1897, Ibid. 4: 99.
Heterostegane semifasciata Warren,
1900, Ibid. 7:111.
Ectropis brevifasciata
Wileman, 1912, Entomologist, 45: 69.
Ectropis bhurmitra Walker; Sato, 1992, established synonymy.
Diagnosis. This and the next species are very similar in appearance, with brown
fasciation on a yellowish fawn ground. E. longiscapia Prout is slightly
larger, more strongly fasciated and irrorated with brown. E. bhurmitra is
a lowland species, E. longiscapia being montane. They may be
distinguished most readily on genitalic characters, the male longiscapia having
a prominent cornutus in the aedeagus vesica, and the female having a large,
convolute pouch associated with the ostium; both features are lacking in bhurmitra.
Geographical range. Indo-Australian tropics from India and Taiwan to
Queensland and Solomons.
Habitat preference. E. bhurmitra has been taken infrequently in a range of
lowland forest types, mostly at below 300m. Sato (1992) did not record it from
Borneo.
Biology. The larva was described by Bell (MS). The body is cylindrical, dull,
pale yellow above, fuscous below, suffused with pink above and rust colour
towards the posterior and on T1. There is a double lateral black band above a
whitish spiracular zone. The setae arise from black dots.
Pupation is in a silken cell woven between leaves.
Host-plants have been recorded in many plant families (Singh, 1953;
Browne, 1968; Bell, MS; unpublished IIE records): Bombacaceae (Bombax);
Combretaceae (Terminalia); Compositae (Artemisia); Dipterocarpaceae
(Shorea); Euphorbiaceae (Aleurites, Phyllanthus); Gramineae;
Leguminosae (Abbizzia, Cassia, Indigofera, Leucaena); Liliaceae (Allium);
Myrtaceae (Eugenia, Syzygium); Opiliaceae (Champereia); Proteaceae
(Grevillea); Rubiaceae (Anthocephalus, Coffea); Rutaceae (Citrus);
Sapindaceae (Schleichera); Sterculiaceae (Theobroma); Taxodiaceae
(Taxodium); Verbenaceae (Gmelina, Tectona).
<<Back
>>Forward <<Return
to Contents page
|
