Orgyia araea Collenette comb. n

Dasychira araea Collenette, 1932, Novit. zool., 38: 84.

Dasychira tristis Heylaerts sensu Schintlmeister, 1994:118, 128.

Diagnosis

See Orgyia osseata Walker comb. rev.

Taxonomic Notes

Schintlmeister (1994) referred to a Sumatran species as tristis Heylaerts and showed the male genitalia as having a long digitate process on the juxta. The holotype female of tristis has been examined and is, as laid out in the BMNH collection, a senior synonym of Ilema anaha Swinhoe, treated as a good species by Schintlmeister. His ‘tristis’ would therefore appear to be araea. The status of O. albofasciata Schintlmeister comb. n. (Thailand, Sumatra) also requires examination in this light. It may be that there are only two very variable species in this complex: osseata with a short juxta process and spur to the upper arm of the valve; and araea with a long juxta process and no spur on the valve.

Geographical range

Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo.

Habitat preference

A single worn male from wet heath forest (kerangas) at 150m on a river terrace west of the Melinau Gorge represents the only Bornean record.

Biology

The larva has been recorded from Acacia mangium (Leguminosae) and Diospyros (Ebenaceae) in Peninsular Malaysia (unpublished IIE and FRIM records).

Genitalia: