Eterusia risa Doubleday

Heterusia risa Doubleday, 1844, Zoologist, 2: 468.

Diagnosis

The forewings are elongate in both sexes, but there is also marked dimorphism. Males are almost entirely blackish, except a pale yellow medial band is present in some specimens. The hindwings are somewhat triangular.

Females have the forewing costa more strongly curved, and the hindwing is more oval in shape. The pale yellow band of the forewing is broader, and the basal two thirds of the hindwing and dorsum of the abdomen are also pale yellow. See also the next species.

Geographical range

Sundaland.

Habitat preference

This appears to be a lowland species, but only old material has been seen, mostly with limited data lacking altitude information.

Biology.

Leong (2009f) has reared the larva in Singapore and illustrated it in colour. It is a light yellowish orange with black spiracles; the flanks of A4 and A5 are dark brown. A deeper red larva has been recorded in Peninsular Malaysia and is illustrated in Plate 12. There are dorsal and lateral rows of conical tubercles that bear long primary setae, and the larva is generally clad with short bristles. It secreted cyanic fluid droplets when disturbed as in the next species. Pupation is in a silken cocoon spun along the mid-rib of a leaf.

The host plant was Melastoma malabathricum (Melastomataceae). Tarmann (1992b) noted Camellia (as Thea; Theaceae) as a larval host.

Genitalia:

Other images: