Utetheisa pulchelloides Hampson

Utetheisa pulchelloides Hampson, 1907, Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (7) 19: 239.

Utetheisa pulchelloides Hampson; Jordan, 1939, Novit, Zool., 41: 28 1-3. (Subspecies described

and discussed).

Utetheisa lotrix Cramer sensu Roepke, 1941; Holloway, 1976: 4.

Utetheisa pulchelloides Hampson; Robinson, 1971.

Diagnosis

This and the next species are most reliably separated by examination of the male genitalia. There are differences in the male antennae (Roepke, 1941; Robinson, 1971) and also a usually reliable difference in the forewing: there is a red patch between the more elongate pair of black marginal marks at the tornus and the subdorsal black spot of the submarginal in pulchelloides that is lacking in lotrix.

Taxonomic Notes

This and the next species were confused by Roepke (1941). Robinson (1971) gave historical details of this confusion and its resolution. Cramer’s original illustration of lotrix accords with the diagnostic feature of the forewing given above.

Geographical range

Islands of the Indian Ocean, Indo-Australian and Pacific tropics, Australia, migrant to Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Norfolk I. and New Zealand (Holloway, 1977).

Habitat preference

The species is frequent in open, disturbed and agricultural habitats in the lowlands.

Biology

The larva in Fiji is bright lemon-yellow with black patterning (Robinson & Robinson, 1974). The ground colour forms a narrow dorsal stripe broken by black at the centre of each segment, and is more evident in a longitudinal external zone though not to the same extent as in lotrix. The head is dark tan. The most frequently recorded host-plant is Messerschmidia (Robinson & Robinson), but the species has also been recorded from other Boraginaceae such as Bothriospermum (Miyata, 1983), Heliotropium (Sevastopulo, 1944, McFarland, 1979) Echium and Myosotis (McFarland, 1979).

Genitalia: