Ataboruza divisa Walker comb. n.

Selenis divisa Walker, 1862, Trans. ent. Soc. London (3), 1: 107.

Selenis semilux Walker, 1865, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus., 33: 1069, syn. n.

Xanthoptera semifusca Snellen, 1880, Tijdschr. Ent., 23: 61, syn. n.

Thalpochares vehemens Lucas, 1898, Proc. r. Soc. Queensland, 13: 74, syn. n.

Zagira bicolora Bethune-Baker, 1906, Novit. zool., 13: 213.

Diagnosis

This species, stragulata Pagenstecher, lauta Butler stat. rev. and two new species (described below), are of a similar size and have a very similar, simple facies where the pale zone extends from the thorax, base of the abdomen and hindwings to the apex of each forewing, tapering gently as it does so. The rest of the wings are a medium pinkish brown in lauta, a darker rich rufous brown in divisa and a purplish brown in stragulata. The postmedials also vary, being somewhat irregular and obscure in divisa, regular with a duller brown distal component in lauta, and consisting of conspicuous, fine, pale lines in stragulata. The pale band is somewhat broader in divisa than in the other two species (see also the descriptions of the two new species). The differences in genitalia between divisa and lauta are discussed in the taxonomic note for the latter.

Taxonomic note

A. lauta Butler is removed from synonymy with divisa (see Poole, 1989) as discussed below, but semilux Walker, the principal taxon recorded in the Australasian tropics (e.g. in Nielsen et al., 1996), proves to be conspecific with divisa.

Geographical range

Indo-Australian tropics to China and east to the Bismarck Is. and Australia.

Habitat preference

One Bornean specimen has been seen, taken by Waterstradt in the vicinity of G. Kinabalu but without more precise data.

Biology

Bell (MS) reared material identified as semilux in India; dissection of vouchers confirm it to be divisa. The first two pairs of prolegs are absent. The body is thickest in the middle, covered with a short pubescence within which the primary setae are barely evident. There is a backward-directed, fleshy horn on A8. The colour is light olive-green with a broad black dorsal band; this consists of triangular patches on the abdominal segments. There are slight, diagonal blackish marks laterally on each segment, and the spiracles are also surrounded by darkish suffusion. There is a yellowish dorsolateral line on A8, with a spot anterior to it on A7. The head is light olive green with darker blotches and is also pubescent.

The larva lives highly looped on the midrib of leaflets of the host plant. Pupation is on the stem or elsewhere in a silken cocoon incorporating leaflets and other detritus.

The larva fed on the foliage of Senna (Leguminosae, identified as Cassia by Bell but corrected by Robinson et al. (2001)). Robinson et al. noted divisa to feed on tassels of Gramineae, on Hibiscus (Malvaceae) and to be generally polyphagous on herbaceous plants. Sugi (1987) stated that the larva fed on Claviceps fungus (Clavicipitaceae) on unripe ears of rice ( Oryza), but this record may be referable to lauta as indicated under that species below.

An unpublished IIE record for divisa from Pteridium (bracken fern) in Papua New Guinea was traced back to its originator, who stated (A. Kirk, pers. comm.) that it had been reared from spore-bearing sori, feeding in a sort of tunnel of webbing. In this instance the larva was yellowish, resembling the spore patches.

Genitalia: