Carea varipes Walker

Carea varipes Walker, 1856 [1857], List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus., 10: 475.

Chora curvifera Walker, 1862, J. Linn. Soc. (Zool.), 6: 188.

Dabarita rhodophila Walker, 1865, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus.,33: 718.

Carea varipes ab. lilacina Warren, 1913, Gross-Schmett. Erde, 3: 298.

Carea varipes ab. modesta Warren, 1913, Gross-Schmett. Erde, 3: 298.

Carea roseotincta Roepke, 1938, Bull. Mus. r. Hist. nat. Belg., 14 (13): 33.

Carea varipes Walker; Kobes, 1997: 89.

Diagnosis

The forewing is a distinctive, rather axe-head shape as in Diehlea, with a similar, curved double postmedial cutting off the distal area; however, it is narrower and more orange than in any Diehlea.

Taxonomic notes

The Sulawesi race has a generally more pinkish tinge and flies with C. simplicilinea Warren (= leucobathra Prout syn. n., originally described as a subspecies of varipes). The latter was described from New Guinea and also occurs in S. Maluku. It has very similar facies to varipes except the dorsal zone of the hindwing is distinctly whitish. The aedeagus vesica has two clumps of cornuti rather than one. Kobes (1997) described C. diversipes from Sumatra, stating that the cornuti of the aedeagus were larger than in varipes; dissection of a small sample indicated that those of the holotype at least were within the range of a degree of variability in varipes. The final member of the group, C. flava Bethune-Baker, is endemic to New Guinea.

Geographical range

Oriental Region to Sundaland; Sulawesi (ssp. roseotincta).

Habitat preference

The species is infrequent but occurs in forest from the lowlands to about 1600m.

Biology

Yunus & Ho (1980) recorded Eugenia and Rhodomyrtus (Myrtaceae) as host-plants. Robinson et al. (2001) added Campomanesia, Cleistocalyx and Syzygium in the same family.

Genitalia: