Mecodina lanceola Guenée

Mecodina lanceola Guenée, 1852, Hist. Nat. Insectes, Spec. gén. Lépid. 7: 373.

Mecodina napa Swinhoe, 1897, Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (6), 19: 168.

Diagnosis

See the generic description. The narrow dark purplish brown forewings and blackish angular fasciation of fore- and hindwings are distinctive.

Taxonomic Note

Leong (2010e) has described and illustrated the mature larva of Mecodina lanceola and its development in Singapore. The prolegs on A3 are only sl;ightly reduced. The dorsal side of the larva is bright green with a series of four closely placed longitudinal white bands on each side, the dorsal three more broken transversely over A1-6, more strongly so on A2-5, particularly at the centre of each where there is a narrow transverse band of green, and between them where there is a narrow ring of white. There is a greyish tinge to the thin dark dorsal line and to dark patches within the mainly white anal segments. The head is mostly green apart from an irregular white ‘E’ extending over the dorsal part. The ventral half of the body is paler, more greyish. The pre-pupal larva turned a dark purplish red and pupated in a shelter of leaves loosely drawn together with silken threads. The host plant was Ficus variegata (Moraceae).

Genitalia: