Casuariclystis latifascia Walker

Eupithecia latifascia Walker, 1866, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus ., 35 : 1674.

Eupithecia inexplicata Walker, 1866, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus ., 35 : 1677,

syn. n.

Eupithecia perceptata Walker, 1866, Ibid. 35 : 1678, syn. n.

Gymnoscelis nigella Joannis, 1906, Ann. Soc. ent. France 75 : 179, syn. n.

Chloroclystis metallicata Fletcher, 1910, Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Zool.) , 13 : 287, syn. n.

Chloroclystis scintillata Prout 1932, Novit. zool. , 38 : 107, syn. n.

Diagnosis

The moth is small, a purplish dark brown, with a series of regular if somewhat sinuous fasciae on both wings, both darker than the ground (e.g. the postmedials) and also finer, paler. The forewings are relatively narrow.

Taxonomic Notes

No significant differences could be detected in facies or genitalic characters across the range of the taxa listed, hence they are brought into synonymy.

Geographical Range

Borneo, Andamans, Fiji, Rotuma I., Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Hong Kong, Ogasawara (Bonin) Is., Kenya, Mauritius, Aldabra, Seychelles.

Habitat Preference

Only five specimens have been taken in recent surveys, three in montane forest (900-1200m) and one in low elevation dipterocarp forest on the limestone G. Api, and one in dry heath forest at Telisai in the lowlands of Brunei.

Biology

Legrand (1965) noted the larva as feeding on Casuarina in the Seychelles. The habitats recorded for the species throughout its range usually include Casuarinaceae, e.g. coastal localities, dry heath forest, limestone forest at altitude in Borneo, oceanic islands (with Casuarina equisetifolia as a strand species, also widely planted in Hong Kong and elsewhere), dry secondary forest in Fiji, and the New Caledonia localities noted for the species by Holloway (1979).