Nyctemera baulus Boisduval

Leptosoma baulus Boisduval, 1832, Fauna ent. Pacifique, Voyage Astrolabe p. 200.

Nyctemera baulus Boisduval; Roepke, 1949: 50, 1957: 150, 168; Holloway, 1976: 5; Barlow, 1982:

Diagnosis

This species is distinguished from others with a transversely banded, basally pale grey abdomen and a dentate inner border to the hindwing marginal band, by the fine whitish delineation of all the veins at the base of the forewing.

Taxonomic notes

Several races are recognised in the range of the species, but the Bornean population belongs to mundipicta Walker (Roepke, 1957).

Geographical range

Sundaland to N. Australia and Samoa.

Habitat preference

This is a widespread sometimes common species of lowland (up to 1200m) secondary, disturbed and agricultural ecosystems.

Biology

Robinson (1975) described the larva in Fiji. The head is pale orange brown. The body is yellowish cream with broad transverse bands of brownish black on each segment. The mesothorax has a pair of hair-pencils; each segment has verrucae with black and pale hairs. The host-plants noted were Brassica (Cruciferae), Emilia and Crassocephalum (Compositae). The species was also recorded from Crassocephalum by McFarland (1979).

Genitalia: