Eoophyla mormodes Meyrick

Taxonomy

The holotype of Oligostigma mormodes Meyrick, 1897: 83 is from Sulawesi (Sangir).

Description

A large pale brown, fulvous and white sp. with typical Eoophyla markings. The brown is mostly on the outer FW with the angled postmedian band and sub termenal band enclosing a large triangle of white. The HW is largely white with pale orange at the base, a narrow submarginal band and a thin submarginal fascia. The tornal area has 4-7 dark spots, some ringed in white as eyespots. A species with extreme sexual dimorphism with the males very much smaller than the unusually large females. This sp. was found to be the third commonest pyralid species in central Sabah by Schulze, with its larvae abundant in small streams in the Kinabalu N.P. (Schulze 2000; Fiedler & Schulze 2004).

References

• Schulze, C.H. (2000) Auswirkungen anthropogener Störungen auf die Diversität von Herbivoren. (Analys von Nachtfalterzönosen entlang von Habitatgradienten in Ost-Malaysia). Unpubl. PhD Thesis, University of Bayreuth, Germany: 350 pp.
• Fiedler, K. & Schulze, C.H. (2004) Forest modification affects diversity (but not dynamics) of speciose tropical pyraloid moth communities. Biotropica
• 30 (4): 615-627.
• Meyrick, E. (1897c) On Lepidoptera from the Malay Archipelago, Trans. Roy Ent. Soc. Lond.: 69-92.