Gonitis mesogona Walker comb. rev.

Gonitis mesogona Walker, [1858] 1857, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus., 13: 1002.

Anomis mesogona Walker; Holloway, 1976: 37.

Diagnosis

See the previous species.

Geographical range

Indian Subregion, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Borneo, Java.

Habitat preference

All Bornean records are from G. Kinabalu, three from 1050m in an area of cultivation near Kundasan, and two from disturbed vegetation on a col amid forest at 1930m.

Biology

The larva was described by Sevastopulo (1939b) and Gardner (1941, 1947), and illustrated by Sugi (1987). The prolegs on A3 are strongly reduced, and those of A4 moderately so. The larva is mostly pale green, but the top of the head and dorsolateral longitudinal lines are pale yellow. There are also fine broken white lines dorsally and laterally, though Sevastopulo referred to darker dorsal and lateral stripes. The primary setae arise from bluish black dots that are ringed paler.

The host plant is usually Rubus (Rosaceae), but the larva has also been recorded from Rosain the same family and from Lantana in the Verbenaceae (Robinson et al., 2001).

Bänziger (1982) recorded the adult as a fruit piercer in Thailand.

Genitalia: