Callyna semivitta Moore

Callyna semivitta Moore, 1882, Descr. new Indian lepid. Insects Colln W.S. Atkinson: 2: 161.

C. semivitta Moore was recorded by Martini & Thöny (1993) from three specimens taken at 950m on G. Trus Madi. Chey (1994) recorded three individuals of the species in samples from secondary forest and a Pinus caribaea plantation at about 300m in the vicinity of Brumas in the lowlands of Sabah, and there is also a specimen in FRC, Sepilok, from near the Sg. Tabin, Lahad Datu. The forewing facies is very similar in semivitta and contracta (see next note), the ground being a series of diffusely separated longitudinal sections: a dorsal one of dull uniform red, extending over about a third of the wing; a central black one; a narrower subcostal red one; a darker, blackish costal one. The anterior three are crossed by irregular white tracery on the fasciae that also defines the stigmata, with a pronounced gap between the postmedial and an apical white patch, its basal border defined by an otherwise obscure submarginal; in this gap the alternation of red and dark bands is most apparent. C. semivitta is distinctly larger than contracta, the latter with a slightly narrower red section at the dorsum and a more definite white triangle marking the distal edge of the posterior lobe of the reniform. In semivitta, the orbicular is usually much more clearly defined, and there is a sagittate black mark in the submarginal subtornally that is not evident in contracta. The inner margin of the apical white mark is evenly curved in contracta, but somewhat angular in semivitta.

Geographical Range

Himalaya, China, Taiwan, Borneo, Java, Sulawesi.

Habitat Preference

(Lowland to lower montane).

Genitalia: