TRIBE NUDARIINI
View Image Gallery of The Tribe Nudariini

Cyana determinata Walker
   
Bizone determinata Walker, 1862, J. Linn. Soc. (Zool.), 6:120.
   
Chionaema ridleyi Hampson, 1900, Cat. Lepid. Phalaenae Br. Mus., 2:300, syn. n.
   
Chionaema bianca form insularis Draudt, 1914, Gross-Schmett. Erde, 10: 174, syn. n.
   
Cyana biana [sic.] insularis Roepke, [1946a]: Tijdschr. Ent. 87: 29, syn. n.


Cyana determinata
(approx. lifesize)


Cyana determinata
(approx. lifesize)


Diagnosis. The fasciae are crimson red, straight, variable in width, and may or may not be edged black. The male has three black discal dots in a triangle, the female has only the more costal two of these, set longitudinally. In the male, the red bands may be expanded to more or less surround the discal spots. The hindwing varies from white to strong pink. The paler, less blackened individuals may be more frequent in open and coastal areas.

Taxonomic note. Roepke effectively validated insularis as a species-group name, but the specimen he had to hand is a female of costifimbria (see above). The synonyms presented bring together taxa with very similar male genitalia, differing in the breadth of the red fasciae and whether they are edged with black.

A range of variation in this occurs in Borneo. Taxa that are probably distinct but related include the yellow-tinged C. aurantiorufa Rothschild from Sumatra and Nias and the redder C. libulae Cernư comb. n. from Luzon and Negros in the Philippines. C. carmina Cernư comb. n. from Palawan has redder hindwings and a darker body than in determinata, but may just represent an extreme of the range of variation seen in Bornean material. The Himalayan C. coccinea Moore also belongs to the group.


Geographical range.
Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia, Java, Bali.

Habitat preference.
This is an infrequent to frequent species of lowland forest but may also occur in disturbed and coastal habitats. One specimen was taken at 1000m in lower montane forest during the Mulu survey.

Biology. Records in Yunus & Ho (1980) and Zhang (1994) give the larval hosts as mosses and Hevea (Euphorbiaceae: rubber); the former is more likely, the latter possibly merely the substrate. However, Kuroko & Lewvanich (1993) recorded the larva of coccinea as feeding on leaf tissue of Dimocarpus (Sapindaceae); they illustrated the larva and cocoon.

<<Back >>Forward <<Return to Contents page


Copyright © Southdene Sdn. Bhd. All rights reserved.