Melanothrix nymphaliaria Walker 

Gnophos nymphaliaria Waker, 1866, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln. Br. Mus., 35: 1598.

Melanothrix pulchricolor Felder, 1874, in Felder & Rogenhofer, Reise oest.

Fregatte Novara (Zool.) 2 (Abt. 2), p. 194: 2.

Euterote (sic) coryna Swinhoe, 1893, Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (7), 12: 211.

Melanothrix atropurpurea Aurivillius, 1894, Ent. Tidskr. 15: 172. ssp. albidior **Rothschild.

Melanothrix albidior Rothschild, 1910, Novit. zool. 17: 463.

Melanothrix radiata Grunberg, 1914, Ent. Rundschau 31: 21, syn. n.

Melanthrix leucotrigona sundaensis Holloway, 1976: 54, syn. n.

Diagnosis

The male is distinguished by an almost triangular patch (lacking in the typical subspecies) of white on the forewing costa postmedially that has a straight exterior margin (crenulate in the next species). The female has the basal black patch of the forewing with a central extension that almost reaches the marginal black area.

Taxonomic Notes

This species is closely related to M. leucotrigona Hampson (nicevillei Hampson and intermedia Rothschild are races) from Burma, the Mergui Is. and Peninsular Malaysia. M. leucotrigona has a more extended, ventrally somewhat serrate lower apical process to the valve and lacks a ventral swelling on the dorsal process in the male genitalia, and a triangular sclerotised ductus bursae in the female genitalia.

The taxon radiata Grunberg has the marginal black border broken by white along the veins to a greater extent than in the female illustrated, but is identical in genitalia to albidior.

Geographical range

Java, Sumatra, Borneo; ?Philippines.

Habitat preference

The males have been taken infrequently in lowland forest, perhaps with a preference for alluvial and kerangas forest types: one was taken at 1620m on G. Kinabalu, and a female was taken at a similar altitude by day.

Genitalia: