Dausara talliusalis Walker
- Family: Crambidae
- Subfamily: Odontiinae
- Genus: Dausara
- Distribution: India (Assam, Andaman Is.), Burma, W. Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak.
- Habitat: Lowland primary forest; <630m.
- Wing Length: 13mm
Taxonomy
The male holotype of Dausara talliusalis Walker, 1859: 507 is from Sarawak and is the genotype of Dausara Walker, 1959. The type was collected by A.R. Wallace and is type No. 1151 in the Oxford U.M.N.H.
This was sp. removed from syn. with D. marginalis (Moore, 1877) by (Yoshiyasu, 1995: 97) but there is no evidence that he examined the holotype.
Description
Wings silvery white with broad purple wing margins.The PML, has a distinct bulge posteriorly and is smooth. That feature and the structure of scent organ on the underside of the male FW help distinguish it from D. marginalis (Yoshiyasu 1995). but otherwise it seems identical. The abdomen is purplish grey with paler sides near the thorax. The thorax is white laterally and covered by long white tegulae. In this sp. the antemedian line of the FW is triangular similar to all Dausara spp. except the female of Dausara chiangmai Yoshiyasu and the un-named Dausara sp. 1. which have linear bands. RTS (1994: 177) stated that D. talliusalis usually has a distinct yellow tint with a golden brown discocellular spot but the holotype shows little evidence of that; it being more similar to the D. marginalis = amethysta types. Althought the median fasciae and the spot are brownish, perhaps they were refering to the undescribed Dausara sp. 1 which at that time was included with talliusalis. Yoshiyasu, (1995: 98) gives a key to 3 Thai Dausara spp..
References
- Moore, F. (1877) The Lepidopterous Fauna of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Proc. zool. soc. Lond: 580-632, pls. 58-60.
- [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.
- Yoshiyasu, Y., (1995) The Genus Dausara Walker of Thailand (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), Microlepidoptera of Thailand, 3 (July 31, 1996); 93-103, Figs. 1-8.
- Walker, F. (1859c) Pyralides. In; List Spec. Lepid. Ins. Coll. B. M., Cat. Lepid. Heterocera. 17: 255-508.
