Thespea bicolor bicolor (Walker, 1855)

Katewa, Amit & Pathania, P. C., 2019, Genitalic studies of four Limacodid species (Limacodidae Lepidoptera) including the description of a new species from Western Ghats, India, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 119 (4), pp. 373-380 : 375-376

Thespea bicolor bicolor (Walker, 1855)

( Plate 2 , Photo A, Figures. B-F)

Neaera bicolor Walker, 1855 , List Specimens lepid. Ins. Colln Br. Mus. 5:

1142. Type-locality: North India.

Latoia oryzae Cai, 1983 , Acta Entomologica Sinica 26(4): 445, pl. 1:15,

fig. 19. Type-locality: China: Rong Xian, Guangxi.

weakly sclerotized, short and narrow, weakly elbowed at centre, ductus ejaculatorius enters laterally.

Female genitalia: Not studied.

Material examined: Karnataka: Dist. Dakshin Kannada, FRH, Gundya , 40m, 28.xi.2004, 03 ♂♂ (coll. A. Katewa and party) .

Distribution: Bhutan (Mendrelgang, Sarpang Tar, Phuentsholing), Nepal, Myanmar, China, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, northeastern India, Sumatra and Java, ( Solovyev, 2014); Bhutan (Tsirang District, Mendrelgang), (Sarpang District, Sarpang Tar) ( Irungbam, 2017).

Male: Alar expanse 32 mm. Vertex pea green, frons brown; antennae bipectinate, basal half strongly bipectinate, pale brown, scape brown scaled; labial palpus expanding upto frons, brown scaled, third segment larger than first and second, first segment with long brown scales; thorax pea-green throughout edged with brown scales; forewing with costa straight, apex rounded, termen oblique, convex, anal margin straight, ground color pea-green, costa and cilia brown, a small brown speck near inner margin between 2A and 3A, a brown speck between M 2 and M 3; hind wing rounded, ground color pale yellow, legs covered with brown scales, scattered white scales throughout, hairy, abdomen yellowish brown.

Male genitalia: Uncus long, comparatively narrow, slightly wavy, broad at base, setae absent, tip ending to a small spine; gnathos spine like, prominent; tegumen small, V-shaped, shoulders weakly developed, vinculum narrow, U-shaped, saccus weakly developed, valvae simple weakly sclerotized, setosed with well formed setae, costa and sacculus well differentiated, ampula and harpe absent, cucullus and valvula not separated from each other, tip of valvae blunt, juxta weakly developed, almost rectangular, transtilla weakly sclerotized, aedeagus Remarks: Earlier, the species has reported from Bhutan by Dudgeon (1900) and from Phuentsholing as Parasa bicolor by W. Dierl (1975) and D.B. Chettri (2014) and reported as minor pest of the family Poaceae and damage to rice crops, sugarcane (defoliator) and bamboos trees (Solovyev et al., 2009). During the course of present surveys, only three male specimens could be collected from a single locality i.e., Gunya in the state of Karnataka. It seems that this species is quite uncommon in the Western Ghats of India.

Figures

Plate 2. Thespea bicolor bicolor (Walker): (A) adult, (B) male genitalia (ventral view), (C) aedeagus, (D) uncus, (E) (valva), (F) (uncus & gnathos (lateral view).