Ericeia inangulata Guenée

Hulodes inangulata Guenée, 1852, Hist. Nat. Insectes, Spec. gén. Lépid. 7: 210. *

Remigia optativa* Walker, 1858, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus

Diagnosis

This is a large, sexually dimorphic species. The males are a dull grey-brown with the submarginal fasciation broadly and evenly emphasised more darkly, slightly zig-zag on the forewing. The females are a more uniform rufous brown with the submarginals only weakly evident but usually irrorated with pale blue, especially in a block at the forewing costa; there is always a darker brown spot in the submarginal subdorsally on the forewing.

Taxonomic note

Holloway (1979) noted the similarity of intextiliaand certilineato inangulatabut did not make a formal synonymy. Both names were included as synonyms of inangulataby Nielsen et al. (1996), with a caveat that Brandt noted that the male secondary sexual characters (but not the male genitalia) of these and levuensis were different from those of inangulata.

Geographical range

Indo-Australian tropics including the Marianas and Carolines; ssp. levuensis in Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Samoa.

Habitat preference

Records have been made from the lowlands to 2600m, but the species is commoner above 1500m.

Biology

The larva was described by Sevastopulo (1943), Gardner (1947) and Bell (MS). The prolegs on A3 are smaller than the rest but functional. The body is elongate, tapering over the thoracic segments, and may appear humped over A1 and A2. The head has a blackish reticulation on a ground of pinkish to yellowish brown, with a pair of white spots on the vertex. The body is light pinkish brown, the setae arising from white dots. There are broad, yellow to orange dorsal and lateral bands, and the ventral surface is also yellow but suffused black centrally. The dorsal part is marked all over with brown to black speckled that tend to be more linear within the yellow bands. Other forms are more greenish ochreous or grey, sometimes with more permanent speckled bands. Given the similarity of the various species in the genus, these may not all be inangulata; indeed Bell later also cast doubt on whether just one species is involved.

The hatchling larvae are whitish, subsequent instars becoming blackish, with T3-A2 swollen, ovate, greenish. Mature larvae rest along sticks or twigs, but the later stages show a strongly looping gait. Pupation is in a slight cocoon of silk amongst litter on the ground. Gardner (1947) stated the pupa had a faint bloom, but this is not mentioned by Bell or Sevastopulo.

Host records (Robinson et al., 2001; references above) are mostly from the Leguminosae (Acacia, Albizia, Cassia, Dalbergia, Mimosa, Paraserianthes, Senna, Xylia) but there are a few from other families: Adiantaceae (Adiantum; Bell); Lythraceae (Lagerstroemia) and Rutaceae (Citrus).

The adult pierces fruit in Thailand (Bänziger, 1982; Kuroko & Lewvanich, 1993).