Daddala microdesma Prout

Sypna achaeopsis microdesma Prout, 1928, Bull. Hill Mus. Witley, 2: 173.

Daddala microdesma Berio as sp. n. in Berio & Fletcher, 1958: 335.

Daddala microdesma Berio; Kobes, 1985: 68.

Diagnosis

The wings are very much darker overall than in brevicauda, of which microdesma was originally thought to be a variant or subspecies. It is best distinguished by the two curved fasciae in the medial zone that converge in the centre of the wing, and are further apart at the margins; these fasciae can be fawn or grey, and the outer one includes a distinct paler sector within the cell, and diverges outwards around the inner margin of the much narrower equivalent of the costal bar of brevicauda.

Taxonomic note

Prout originally described microdesma as a subspecies. This was overlooked by Berio, who redescribed it as a new species. The authorship is therefore reassigned to Prout.

Geographical range

Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo.

Habitat preference

This is a rarer species than brevicauda, known from two specimens from 1000m on G. Mulu and three from 1618m on Bukit Retak.

Genitalia: