Aquis albida Walker

Bantana albida Walker, [1863]1864, J. Linn. Soc. (Zool.), 7: 52.

Diagnosis

This is a variable species with a sharply angled, almost falcate forewing apex and a rather convex distal margin. Many specimens have a large, roughly triangular whitish area based on the dorsum and extending to the discal position. Within this the rather irregular, linear, fine black postmedial and antemedial are more evident.

Geographical range

Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo.

Habitat preference

Records have been infrequent but over a wide range, from disturbed coastal forest, heath, alluvial and dipterocarp forest to lower montane forest at 900m on limestone.

Taxonomic Note

Aquis albida Walker has been reared from a larva found on Anisoptera (Dipterocarpaceae) in Peninsular Malaysia (S.K.L. Hok & H.S. Barlow pers. comm.), and is illustrated in Plate 9. The head is pale brown but the body is mainly black apart from T2 and T3 which are pink, and A3-6 and the anal segment which are extensively white dorsally. On A3 this white is restricted to a posterior strip, but it is more extensive on A4-6, broken only by black patches containing the scoli with secondary setae and narrow intersegmental strips; A6 has the posterior third black, joining with the patches containing the scoli. The scoli are elongate, particuarly the dorsolaterals of T2 and those on the anal segment, and the secondary setae are also longer on these scoli as illustrated. No observations were made on the condition of the prolegs on A3.

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