Pseudidonauton bhaga Swinhoe comb. n.

Thosea bhaga Swinhoe, 1901, Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (7) 7: 463.

Thosea bhaga Swinhoe; Hering, 1931: 714.

Diagnosis

This is one of the smallest Bornean species, the forewing pale brown with a small apical patch and larger basal zone of dark brown.

Taxonomic Notes

Externally bhaga and admirabile (Peninsular Malaysia) Hering are indistinguishable but in admirabile male genitalia the sacculus is shorter, its spine longer with the basal two thirds more or less straight rather than evenly curved. The uncus has a V-cleft rather than a U-cleft, the two processes being more slender and flexed outwards centrally. Therefore admirabile is placed as a subspecies of bhaga, stat. n.

Solovyev (2009) described three new species of Pseudidonauton: siamica Solovyev and vexa Solovyev from Thailand and Vietnam; chihpyla Solovyev from Taiwan. This brings the total of species in the genus to five. P. admirabile Hering is retained as a subspecies of P. bhaga Swinhoe here as in Part 1; the differences are relatively minor compared to those between all other taxa.

Geographical Range

Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra.

Habitat Preference

The species has been taken mainly in lowland rainforest though one specimen was taken at 900m in lower montane forest on the limestone G. Api during the Mulu survey.

Biology

The larva of the Indian congener, nigribasis Hampson, is described in the generic account.