Banisia ovifera ovifera Butler

Taxonomy

• Ssp. Banisia ovifera ovifera; Brunei, Bkt. Retak.
• The holotype of Durdara ovifera Butler, 1892:129 is from Sabah (Sandakan). Stat. n. to Banisia (Whalley, 1976:174-177, fig’d).
• Syn. Letchena diversicolor Warren (1897:183). Syn. n. and stat. n. as a ssp. of Banisia ovifera (Whalley 1971:175).
• Syn. Letchena satelles Warren (1906:64) is from PNG. Syn. n. stat. n. as a ssp. of Banisia ovifera diversicolor (Whalley 1976:175).
• Nec Phalaena [= Noctua] myrtaea (Drury 1773); misident. See Dalla Torre (1914;28); (Hampson, 1897:618)).
• Syn. ab. coeca (Warren 1906:64) (ab. of Letchena satelles Warren). The female syntype from PNG is in the NHM.

Description

A bright orange species with indistinct reticulation and a few dark strigillate marks and small spots. There is a large obovate fenestra on the FW. Posterior to this may be two or three smaller fenestrae. Ab. coeca (Warren 1906) lacks the FW fenestrae. There are three named sspp:

• Ssp. ovifera (Butler, 1892), Brunei, Sabah;
• Ssp. diversicolor (Warren, 1897), Sulawesi, Admiralty Is, Sarawak, PNG, New Britain. Large with a prominent hyaline area on the FW. Very variable in colour (brown and red-brown) and probably not a homogenous ssp.
• Ssp. praevaria Whalley, 1976:176, Solomon Is.

Both ssp. diversicolor & praevaria are larger, darker and more strongly marked than the nominate ssp.