Cheromettia sumatrensis Heylaerts

Nemeta sumatrensis Heylaerts, 1884, Comp. rend. Soc. ent. Belg . 28: 42.

Cheromettia sumatrensis Heylaerts; Hering, 1931: 674.

Diagnosis

The elongate black forewings and small, marginally concave hind-wings of the male render it unmistakable. The female could be confused with Arbelarosa species but the forewing is less fasciate, more mottled, with a diagnostic black apical patch.

Taxonomic Notes

The species differs from C . lohor Moore (which resembles C . ferruginea Moore) in having a splayed array of five spines on the basal process of the valve rather than just one flexed outwards.

Geographical Range

Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, Java, Bali; male specimens from the last two localities have the hindwings centrally transparent as in C. lohor.

Habitat Preference

The only Bornean specimens seen are a male and female from the lowlands of Brunei.

Biology

The larva is as described in the generic description. It has been recorded from Elaeis, where it scrapes the epidermis (Wood 1968), Ricinus, Musa, Mangifera, Erythrina, Phaseolus, Nephelium and Coffea (Piepers & Snellen 1900, as lohor).