Amerila astreus (Drury, 1773), 2018

Spitsyn, Vitaly M. & Bolotov, Ivan N., 2020, A review of the tiger moth genus Amerila Walker, 1855 from Flores Island, Indonesia, with a description of a new species (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae), Ecologica Montenegrina 33, pp. 1-7 : 3

Amerila astreus (Drury, 1773)

Type locality: Malaysia .

Figs 1 E-F, 2D-E, Table 1

Material examined. INDONESIA: East Nusa Tenggara, Flores Island, Sano Ngoang Lake , geothermal site, primary mountain rainforest, 8º43'1"S, 120º0'10"E, altitude 670 m a.s.l., 23.i.2015, 1♀, Bolotov leg. ; Kanawa Island, scarce forest of Ziziphrus jojoba, 8°29'31"S, 119°45'27"E, altitude 3 m a.s.l., 26.iv.2011, 1♂, Bolotov leg. ; Flores Island, Borong , dry monsoon forest and banana plantations, 8º49'05"S, 120º37'33"E, altitude 100 m a.s.l., 24-27.i.2020, 6 specimens, V. Spitsyn & E. Spitsyna leg. ; Flores Island, Bajawa, Wolokoro Ecolodge , heavily disturbed monsoon forests and eucalyptus plantings, 8º49'02"S, 120º56'03"E, altitude 1010 m a.s.l., 28-31.i.2020, 2 specimens, V. Spitsyn & E. Spitsyna leg. ; Flores Island, Bajawa, Manulalu Ecolodge , eucalyptus plantation with fragmented areas of natural vegetation, 8º51'45"S, 120º59'40"E, altitude 1100 m a.s.l., 01-02.ii.2020, 2 specimens, V. Spitsyn & E. Spitsyna leg. ; Flores Island, Labuan Bajo, Mbeliling Mountain Ecolodge , mountain monsoon forest, 8º35'21"S, 119º59'12"E, altitude 510 m a.s.l., 05-07.ii.2020, 2 specimens, V. Spitsyn & E. Spitsyna leg. ; Flores Island, Labuan Bajo , disturbed monsoon forest, 8°30'42"S, 119°54'09"E, altitude 100 m a.s.l., 13.ii.2020, 3 specimens, V. Spitsyn & E. Spitsyna leg.

Diagnosis. This widespread species can be distinguished from other taxa from tropical Asia and Australasia by having a pink dorsal side of the abdomen in both the male and the female. Externally, it resembles A. eugenia (Fabricius, 1794) ( type locality India) but can be distinguished from it by having a grey ground color of the wings, a lesser curved ampulla, and larger coremata. This species can be separated from A. rhodopa Walker, 1864 ( type locality India) and A. vitrea Plötz, 1880 ( type locality West Africa) by having a clear dark, elongated spot between the cell apex and the costa on the forewing, and from A. fumida (Swinhoe, 1901) ( type locality Indonesia: Halmaheira Is.; Timor) by having semitransparent wings.

Distribution. India, Sri-Lanka, Nepal, mainland China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indochina, Indonesia, and New Guinea ( Dubatolov 2010). On the Flores Island, this species was recorded from the sea level to 1100 m a.s.l. ( Bolotov et al. 2018; this study).

Figures

Figure 1. Amerila spp. from Flores Island, Indonesia. A-D A. rosenfeldae sp. nov.: A) male upperside (holotype); B) female upperside (paratype); C) male underside (holotype); D) female underside (paratype). E-F A. astreus: E) male upperside; F) female upperside. Scale bar = 10 mm. (Photos: Vitaly M. Spitsyn).