Coptobasis cohaesalis Walker
- Family: Crambidae
- Subfamily: Spilomelinae
- Genus: Coptobasis
- Distribution: India, W. Malaysia, Borneo, Indnesia (Sula, Tanimbar Is.), Australia, Fiji.
- Habitat: Lowland forest <610m.
- Wing Length: 15mm
Taxonomy
The female holotype of Botys cohaesalis Walker 1865 [1866]: 1418. TL Sula The specimen was collected by A. R. Wallace and is type #1083 in the Oxford U.M.N.H.
- syn. Coptobasis biocellata Warren 1896b: 171, TL Indonesia, [Maluku, Lesser Sunda Is.], Tenimber [Tanimbar Is]. As a junior subjective syn. (LepIndex, Globiz).
- Nec syn. Notarcha halurga Meyrick 1886a: 259. TL Fiji. Listed (in LepIndex) as a junior subjective syn. (Hampson in Tams, 1924: 357) but we provisionally consider this sp. as syn with Sylepta [sic] crotonalis Walker, 1859e: 997.
We treat it in Coptobasis Lederer 1863d: 429-430 to place it with superficially similar spp. in the C. mesospectralis group.
Description
A brown or brownish grey sp. with indistinct FW markings. A faint dark bordered pale post median line and a faint dark ante-median line are the only obvious markings although there is a faint darker mark in the FW cell. The brown HW is nearly obsolete with very faint pale postmedian marks. It has a distinct white pectoral collar on the UnS. The antennae are described as ‘slender’ by Walker. Hampson (in Tams, 1924: 286) says the only other specimens in a mixed series of [Botys] cohaesalis in the B.M.N.H. with a silvery white pectus are from New Guinea. This could refers to specimens of Phrynganodes violitincta Rothchild 1915: 131. [ = C. mesospectralis] and correctly implied that C. cohaesalis has a pale pectoral marking.
References
- Walker, F. (1865 [1866 Jan 13]) List Spec Lepid. Ins. Coll. B. M., Cat. Lepid. Heterocera. 34, (Suppl. 4): 1121-1533.
- Tams, W.H.T. (1924) List of the moths collected in Siam by E.J. Godfrey, B.Sc., F.E.S., with descriptions of new species. J. nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, 6 (3): 229-289, pl. 17.
- Walker, F. (1859e) Pyralides, In; List Spec. Lepid. Ins. Coll. B. M., Cat. Lepid. Heterocera. Ser. 4, 19: 799-1036.
- Warren, W. (1896b) XXVI New species of moths from the Khasia Hills, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 6, 18 (103): 107-119.
- Meyrick, E. (1886a) Descriptions of Lepidoptera from the South Pacific. Trans. ent. Soc. Lond.:189-296.