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Barasa acronyctoides
Walker
Barasa
acronyctoides
Walker, 1862, J. Linn. Soc. (Zool.), 6: 192.
Barasa
cana
Hampson, 1893, Illust. typical Specimens lepid. Heterocera Colln Br. Mus., 9: 107.
Sarrothripa
caradrinoides
Snellen, 1879, Tijdschr. Ent., 22: 94.
Barasa acronyctoides
Diagnosis.
The forewings are a
slightly variegated ashy grey, rounded apically and at the tornus. There are
finely linear black fasciae, the postmedial being strongly but irregularly
sinuous. There are tufts of raised scales in the discal area. The male has the
conspicuous black hair pencil mentioned in the generic description.
Geographical range.
Oriental Region east
to Sulawesi.
Habitat preference.
The species is
frequent in a wide range of lowland forest types, including disturbed, coastal
and heath forests, and extends more weakly up into montane forests to as high as
1618m.
Biology.
The life history in India was
described by Bell (MS). The larva is oblong, flattened, squat, lacking prolegs
on A3 and slightly broader at that point. The segments are well defined, the
body surface dull and smooth. Secondary setae, as long as the breadth of the
larva, are borne on small but prominent verrucae. The head is somewhat
heart-shaped, bright reddish orange, and the legs and prolegs are orange. The
body is chocolate-brown, pinkish laterally on A4-6.
The larva lives on the underside of young leaves of the host-plant, occasionally
being found on the upperside, and the body is flexed centrally when at rest.
Pupation is in a cocoon attached to a twig or branch, incorporating strips of
bark that protrude to give it a rough surface. The cocoon has an anterior peak
and is broadest centrally, tapering in a spindle-shape posteriorly; the sides
are steep. The adult emerges through a vertical exit slit at the peaked end.
The host plant was invariably Eugenia (Myrtaceae), noted also in India by
Mathur (1942; as Syzygium), and in the Andamans (unpublished IIE
records).
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