Hypomecis costaria Guenée

Boarmia costaria Guenée, 1857, Hist. nat. Insectes, Spec. Gen. Lep., 9: 242.

Boarmia xylopterata Snellen, 1895, Dt. ent. Z . Iris, 5 :148.

Serraca spissata Warren, 1899, Novit. zool., 6: 56, syn. n.

Diagnosis

The wings are a variable light brown with darker brown fasciation, the oblique, sinuous forewing postmedial being most conspicuous. A common form has extensive dark brown to black suffusion in the medial zone of the hindwing and associated with the forewing postmedial.

Taxonomic Notes

and H. spissata were listed as distinct by Sato (1990 b). Typical costaria is a darker brown and lacks the excavation in the hindwing tornal margin that characterises spissata, but a range of specimens intermediate in character has been examined, and no differences could be detected in the male genitalia of specimens at each extreme. It is concluded that these all belong to one variable taxon.

Geographical Range

Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Nias I., Borneo.

Habitat Preference

This is a common species of lowland forest, particularly wet kerangas, and appears to fly mostly in the understorey. It is taken also in lower montane forest.

Genitalia: