Eupanacra automedon Walker

Panacra automedon Walker, 1856, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln. Br. Mus., 8: 154.

Panacra automedon Walker; Rothschild & Jordan, 1903: 537.

Diagnosis

The several postmedial lines of the forewing are more even in intensity, extending to become constricted together before disappearing just subcostally; in dohertyi they continue to the costa, and in malayana they are only really strong at the dorsum. There is never an obvious longitudinal dark shade to the marginal angle. The pale submarginal band of the hindwing is more uniform than in dohertyi and malayana.

Geographical range

N.E. Himalaya to Sundaland.

Habitat preference

This is probably a lowland species.

No specimens have been taken in recent surveys.

Biology

Dupont & Roepke (1941) described and illustrated the larva. The young larva is green with a pinkish horn. The pairs of ocelli develop as black dots in the third instar. Later instars are green, dark grey, or even bluish. The green larva has brown-ringed black ocellar spots, with two rows of four white spots between them. The darker ones have ocellar spots, but also pairs of dark dorsal spots on the abdominal segments, and some weak longitudinal banding.

The host-plant recorded was Lasia (Araceae).

Taxonomic Note

E. automedon was reared from a late instar larva by Leong (2009a), who illustrated the final stages and metamorphosis in colour. The penultimate instar is a jade-green, faintly speckled darker, with a paler beige, straight anal horn; an incipient pair of ocelli was faintly present on A1. In the final instar, these ocelli become black with yellow and brown surrounding marks; there are a few white spots between the ocelli. The body becomes pale brown with darker oblique shading and a fine dark dorsal line. The horn becomes shorter, curved and also dark brown with a pale tip and a paler wedge up its basal flanks. The host plant was Lasia spinosa (Araceae).