Pterogonia cardinalis Holloway

Pterogonia cardinalis Holloway, 1976: 28.

Pterogonia cardinalis Holloway; Kobes, 1997: 67.

Diagnosis

The silver discal triangle with satellite spots at the angles, amid a striated and speckled pinkish grey ground, render the forewing of this species unmistakable.

Males have a more rounded forewing margin than females, with the venation modified to support an androconial zone over the dorsal area of the underside and longer hairs in the cell.

Geographical range

Indian Subregion, Sundaland to New Guinea and Queensland.

Habitat preference

Only four specimens have been taken in Borneo: in dry heath forest at Telisai and lowland forest at Labi in Brunei; in alluvial forest in the G. Mulu National Park; at 1050m in a cultivated area at Kundasan on the slopes of G. Kinabalu.

Taxonomic Note

The larva of Pterogonia cardinalis has been reared in Peninsular Malaysia by S.K.L. Hok, and middle and late instars are illustrated in Plate 12. The larva appears to be somewhat different to that described for P. episcopalis Swinhoe, the type species, in Part 18. The anterior is rather rounded, broadest at A2 and then tapers away to the anal claspers which are splayed. The head is red with three vertical grey stripes on each side that converge at the vertex. The body is bright green dorsally in middle instars with the venter bright red, the red extending up the flanks to above the true legs and then further over A1 and A2 towards a dorsolateral dark brown triangle. These are red bars on T2 and T3 just above the general red area but within the green, which is paler and more yellowish in this zone. From A2 backwards there is extensive white on the flanks, reducing the red to a narrow strip just dorsal to it that converges with the one opposite at the anal extremity. The older larva is more completely bright red, though the white area over the posterior part remains. There are also more extensive dorsolateral blackish markings, and there is a vague and irregularly narrow dorsal line that is darker. The host plant recorded was Syzygium (Myrtaceae) (H.S. Barlow & S.K.L. Hok, pers. comm.).

Genitalia: