Garella ruficirra Hampson

Hypothripa ruficirra Hampson, 1905, Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (7), 16: 540.

Characoma ruficirra Hampson; Holloway, 1976: 21.

Diagnosis

See the previous species. *Taxonomic note.

G.* casuaria Wileman & West comb. n. (Philippines) is closely related.

Geographical range

Japan, N.E. Himalaya, Borneo.

Habitat preference

Specimens have been taken mostly from montane forest from 1000m to 1930m but one was taken in dipterocarp forest at 150m at the foot of G. Mulu.

Biology

The larva in Japan is stout, a glossy olive-green with pale yellow speckles.

The primary setae are long and set on slightly darker pinacula (Sugi, 1987). It bores in green nuts of Castanea and Quercus (Fagaceae), and the tips of young shoots of Lithocarpus in the same family (Sugi; Teramoto, 1996). Mathur (1942) recorded Juglans (Juglandaceae) and Quercus as host-plants in India, the larva feeding on the green fruits of the former and defoliating the latter.

Genitalia: