Ambadra melanostriga Schintlmeister

Turnaca suriga Schaus, 1928 ,Proc. U.S. natn. Mus. 73 (19): 88.

Suriga suriga Schaus; Kiriakoff 1968: 98.

Ambadra suriga Schaus; Holloway 1982 a: 206.

Diagnosis

The reddish patch basal to the pale discal spot on the forewing, and the smaller size, distinguish this species from its Bornean relatives.

Taxonomic notes

• In Malaya and the Indian Subregion there flies the very similar A. stigmatica Gaede, probably the sister species of suriga.
• The identity of A. suriga Schaus (Philippines: Mindanao) has been problematic for some time and it is probable that further clarification may be necessary. Schintlmeister (1993) identified material from Mindanao as suriga and related a new species, sibena Schintlmeister, to it, noting differences in the male antennae and genitalia, but did not illustrate the latter. It is clear that he had not examined type material of suriga (in USNM), as this is indicated by S & P (2007: 66). The male genitalia of the holotype of suriga are illustrated in Fig 94, and bear a close resemblance to those illustrated for the species by Schintlmeister (1994b: plate 3, fig 7). Schintlmeister (1994b) is probably correct in stating that the species illustrated as suriga in Part 4 is not that species. The blunt, rather bilobed apex to the uncus (seen also in four further Bornean males dissected; these had the valve costa varying from slightly straight to shallowly convex, and the aedeagus apex was bifid in two) and its basal features appear closest to his Sumatran species, melanostriga Schintlmeister (also in Peninsular Malaysia, agreeing in facies and male genitalia: slide 1953), though the facies is more as in the species he illustrated as suriga. However, he has subsequently (S & P) placed melanostriga as a synonym of suriga, which does not solve the problem of the identity of the Bornean species! This is therefore placed here tentatively under melanostriga Schintlmeister, stat. rev., with a recommendation that molecular studies such as CO1 barcoding are undertaken on the complex. See also the note on montana Holloway below, and Holloway (1987), who revived celebensis Roepke from Sulawesi, where two species of the complex occur. Holloway (1982) illustrated a Peninsular Malaysian species of this facies type as stigmatica Gaede (India). This would appear to be A. >modesta Schintlmeister (S.E. China, Hainan, Thailand, S. Burma, Peninsular Malaysia) with ssp. andamana Schintlmeister in the Andaman Is. (S & P, 2007). A new Bornean species related to modesta is described in Note 287. The male genitalia of the holotype of stigmatica are illustrated in Fig 97. Schintlmeister & Lourens (2010) have recorded six species of Ambadra from the Philippines, all endemic except for suriga.

Geographical range

Borneo, Philippines, Sulawesi.

Habitat preference

Infrequent in lowland dipterocarp forest.

Biology

The life history of suriga is unknown but is probably similar to that of stigmatica, studied in India by Bell (MS). The egg is a depressed, whitish sphere (1.7 x 1.2 mm), with a circular, pinkish brown micropyle surface and, with maturity, pinkish brown freckles. The eggs are laid in rows of three to seven, or singly, on a pinna of the frond of the host, Cocos nucifera (coconut palm). The larvae grow rapidly and generally lie on a midrib of a pinna where the lamina has been stripped. The larva is spindle-shaped, the head broader than the tail where the anal claspers protrude but hardly diverge. The head is smooth, shiny, light green with a fine maroon line laterally. The body is greyish olive green, glabrous, with a whitish subdorsal line, a pale yellow-green dorsolateral line and a maroon-edged, whitish spiracular band that continues onto the head and anal claspers; there is a blue dorsal ‘pulsating’ line and a broken maroon line runs along the leg bases. Pupation is on the surface of the ground or between two pinnae in a silken cocoon. The adult rests with the wings closely pressed to the sides of the body.

Genitalia: