Circobotys occultilinea Walker

Taxonomy

The holotype of Crambus occultilinea Walker, 1863: 168 is from Sarawak.

• syn. Pyrausta petrosarca Lower, 1903: 68. TL Australia Queensland (Cooktown). Syn. n. (Shaffer et al., 1996);
• syn. Pyrausta apocrypha Turner, 1908: 101. TL Australia, Queensland (Brisbane). Syn. n. (Shaffer et al., 1996);

Comb. n. to Circobotys Butler, 1879 (RTS 1994: 184).

Description

At first glance this could be mistaken for a schoenobiine. A pale shiny yellow-brown moth with a jagged brown line across the outer part of the FW and a brown cellular spot extending from the darker brown sub costa. The FW inner margin is also a dark brown. These markings may be very faint. HW is white and practically unmarked. Labial palps brown above and white beneath. There is sexual dimorphism in size with slightly smaller males (27-33mm), females <36mm wingspan). The males have large pale brown, anal hair pencils. Circobotys has approx. nine spp., two in SE Asia. (RTS 1994: 184). A male specimen seen from China (Xishuangbanna, Mengla), is darker with a dark costa and a dark diffuse orbicular mark. It may be a var. of this sp.

References

• Walker, F. (1863 [April 18]) Crambites and Tortricites. In List Spec. Lepid. Ins. Coll. B. M., Cat. Lepid. Heterocera. 27: 1-286.
• Butler, A.G. (1879) XXI, Butterflies of Malacca. Trans. Linn. Soc. (Zool.) Ser. 2 Vol. 1, (8): 533- 568, pl. 68-69.
• Turner, A.J. (1908) New Australian lepidoptera of the families Noctuidae and Pyralidae, Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Austr. 32: 55-109.
• [RTS] Robinson, G.S., Tuck, K.R. & Shaffer, M. (1994) A Field Guide to the Smaller Moths of South-East Asia, Malaysian Nature Society Kuala Lumpur & Natural History Museum, London, 311 pp. 51 text figs, 32 pls.
• [RTS] (1994): 184, pl.30, fig.4.
• Shaffer, M. & Nielsen, E.S. (1996) In Nielsen, E.S., Edwards, E.D. & Rangji, R.V. (Eds.) Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia, 66: 161-163, CSIRO, Australia.
• Lower, O.B. (1903a) New Australian Noctuina etc. Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Austr. 27 (1): 27-74.