Trabala irrorata Moore
Trabala irrorata Moore, 1884, Trans. ent. Soc. Lond., 1884: 375.
Trabala irrorata Moore; Roepke, 1951: 114.
Diagnosis
In the male the antemedial of the forewing is obscure; the postmedial and hindwing fasciae are more or less straight on the upperside, of yellowish tone; the narrowly darkened fringes are only slightly crenulate and the submarginal spots are weak with only slight central ‘stepping’. Below, the fasciae are again yellow, that of the hindwing evenly curved.
The species is variable with some male specimens having the area basal to the postmedial of the forewing paler than the ground.
The male genitalia have a distinctive tegumen with a pair of small triangular processes flanked by two larger ones.
The females according to Roepke are similar to those of the next species, but with less crenulate hindwing margins; the marginal spots would be less stepped and are acutely angled basad rather than distad.
There is insufficient material to hand to confirm this; the female illustrated is therefore tentatively associated.
Taxonomic Notes
Roepke associated the males discussed here with the female type, and had in his possession a reared pair enabling him to associate the sexes correctly.
The larger triangular processes of the tegumen in Bornean males lack the secondary spur of those from Java and Sumatra.
Geographical range
Sundaland, Mindanao, ?Thailand, ?S. Burma.
Habitat preference
This is the most abundant lowland species in Borneo, taken in a wide range of forest types including swamp forest.
It is recorded also from lower montane forest, and a pair were taken at about 1500m on Bukit Retak in Brunei.
Biology
Roepke recorded this species as feeding on Ricinus. Yunus & Ho (1980) noted it from Eugenia, Melastoma, Psidium and Shorea.
Genitalia:
