Comibaena cassidara Guenée

Phodoresma [sic] cassidara Guenée, 1857, Hist. nat. Insectes, Spec. gen. Lep. 9: 370.

Geometra detenta Walker, 1861, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus., 22: 521.

Geometra dissessa Walker, 1861, Ibid . 22: 518.

Geometra dentata Moore, 1867, Proc. zool. Soc. Land ., 1867: 636.

Comibaena cassidara Guenée; Holloway, 1976: 61.

Diagnosis

The forewing tornus and hindwing apex are only very narrowly rufous brown. The black discal spots are very small. The forewing has a faint, pale antemedial line.

Taxonomic Notes

This species, the next, C. quadrinotata Butler (N. India, with relatives in Java (slide 16826) and Sulawesi (slide 18827)), C. cheramota Meyrick (Fiji), and C. mariae Lucas (Australasian tropics) all have a central spine on the male eighth tergite. This is also seen in some African taxa such as C. leucospilata Walker.

C. meyricki* Prout (Talaut) could be conspecific with cassidara.

Geographical Range

India, China, Thailand, Singapore, Borneo.

Habitat Preference

Records from Borneo are few and are associated with cultivated areas such as at Tuaran (10m) and Bundu Tuhan (1200m) in Sabah (Holloway, 1976).

Biology

Singh (1957) gave a detailed account of the larva and its chaetotaxy. There are long setiforous fleshy projections from the thorax and abdomen. These are twined round with silken threads to which the larva attaches fragments of the host-plant. The colour is mottled grey, brown and black (spirit preserved specimens). The body is rugose with small conical spines. Pupation is in a loose, silken cocoon incorporating frass. The host-plant given by Singh was Glycosmis (Rutaceae), the larva feeding on flowers and young pods. Unpublished IIE records are for: Anacardium, Mangifera (Anacardiaceae); Cuscuta (Convolvulaceae); Flemingia (Leguminosae); Ziziphus (Rhamnaceae).