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Porsica punctifascia Hampson
Gargetta
punctifascia Hampson,
1893, J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 11:281
Porsica
punctifascia Hampson;
Kiriakoff 1968: 27.
Diagnosis. The forewings have a ground colour darker than in benderi with
the medial area surrounding the reniform suffused brownish, highlighting the
kidney-shaped surround to the brown crescent. The last character is not readily
apparent in the specimen illustrated.
Geographical range. N.E. Himalaya, Hong-Kong, Peninsular Malaysia,
Sumatra, Borneo.
Habitat preference. It is probably a lowland species. Of the four Bornean
specimens examined, three were from Samarinda in eastern Kalimantan and one from
300 m in hill dipterocarp forest, Lower Temburong, Brunei.
Biology. The species has been reared, photographed and described by M. Bascombe
in Hong-Kong. The mature larva is 48 mm long, the stematopods a slightly further 20 mm. The first pair of prolegs are reduced, not used
when in the resting posture. The ground colour of the body is a glossy, pale,
bluish green; the stematopods are greyish with numerous small black spines. The
head is speckled with deep reddish brown and the body bears several irregular
longitudinal lines and bands of this colour, most fine and intense through the
line of the legs. The pinacula are protuberant, also brown, bearing short brown
setae. In dorsal view there is a central greenish band, bordered by narrower
pale blue bands, these in turn giving way to subdorsal brownish bands which are
bordered narrowly with darker brown, all these longitudinal bands being somewhat
irregular. Pupation time was just under two weeks; no cocoon was made, the pupa
being formed on the cage floor. The host-plant was Aporusa chinensis (Euphorbiaceae).
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