Coptobasis sulcialis Walker
- Family: Pyralidae
- Subfamily: Spilomelinae
- Genus: Coptobasis
- Distribution: India (Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland) Sabah, Kalimantan Selatan, Sarawak, Indonesia (Sumatra, Sulawesi, Amboina, Irian Jaya), PNG (Rook Is.).
- Habitat: Lowland forest.
- Wing Length: 17mm
Taxonomy
The male holotype of Botys sulcialis Walker, 1859d: 684, from Sarawak is in Oxford U.M.N.H. T. L. incorrectly given as Assam by Hampson 1897b: 203. The type #947 was collected by A.R. Wallace. It is very similar to C. mesospectralis and this sp. is almost certainly the unrecognised senior synonym.
- syn. Botys megapteralis Walker 1865 [1866]: 1407. Syn. n. Hampson, 1897: 203. Walker's types were found not to be conspecific. The lectotype from Ceram is in the UM Oxford. paralectotypes are Phostria unitalis Guenée, 1854: 349.
- syn. Phrynganodes violitincta Rothchild, 1916: 131, TL [Dutch] New Guinea, Utawa River, Base Camp. (LepIndex).
C. albitorquata & C. sulcialis are possibly incorrectly organised in the B.M.N.H. collections. Certainly not all specimens have a white pectus.
Description
Shiny metallic dark coppery brown & often with a faint purple sheen. The antennae are ciliated throughout (Note the specialised antennal bases which Hampson (1897b: 202) mentions in his generic description. The underside of the thorax is dark brown and the abdomen is fawn and as Walker noted ‘head beneath & fore part of the thorax [pectus] pure white’. Coptobasis [Botys] monochromalis Walker, 1865 [1866]: 1419, TL Sula, is slightly smaller and has less rounded FWs.
References
- Guenée, A. (1854) Deltoïdes et pyralites. In Boisduval, J.A. & Guenée, A., Hist. nat. des Insectes (Spec. gén. Lépid.) Vol. 8, 448pp. + 10 pls., Librarie Encyclopédique de Roret: Paris.
- Walker, F. (1865 [1866 Jan 13]) List Spec Lepid. Ins. Coll. B. M., Cat. Lepid. Heterocera. 34, (Suppl. 4): 1121-1533.
- Hampson, G.F. (1897b) On the classification of two subfamilies of moths of the Family Pyralidae; the Hydrocampinae and the Scoparianae. Trans. ent. Soc. Lond. 1897 (7): 127-240.
- Rothchild, L.W. (1916) Lepidoptera of the British Ornithological Union and Wollaston Expedition in the Snow Mountains, southern Dutch New Guinea. Rep. B. O. U. exp. 2 (15): 1-162.
