Antheraea borneensis Moore

Antheraea borneensis Moore, 1892, Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (6), 9: 451.

Diagnosis

Both this and Antheraea diehli Lemaire have a black ‘eyelid’ to the hindwing ocellus.

The males of helferi are dull reddish orange, those of diehli orange-yellow; the forewings are less falcate in the latter.

The male forewing submarginal fascia is obscure, double, brown in helferi, prominent, single, black in diehli; the subbasal is more curved, less oblique in diehli. In both sexes the hindwing medial is closely associated with the ocellus in diehli but distanced from it in helferi. Further features are given by Allen (1981) and Holloway (1982).

Taxonomic Notes

1. Holloway (1982) used borneensis as a subspecific name for all Sundanian material. This arrangement is followed here but the situation needs further investigation. Sundanian males are on the whole larger, more suffused with pink over the anterior half of the forewing and have the veins typically picked out darker than the ground colour.
2. Rolfe & Naumann (2009) indicated that, from DNA barcoding, the Antheraea taxa helferi Moore (Himalaya, N. Thailand), borneensis Moore and imperator Watson (Java) should be distinguished as good species.

Geographical range

N.E. Himalaya; Sundaland.

Habitat preference

Most specimens have been taken in lowland rainforest but a single male was recorded at 1618m on Bukit Retak, Brunei (Allen, 1981).