Nymphicula cataclystalis Hampson

Taxonomy

The female holotype of Ambia cataclystalis Hampson 1897b: 166 is from Kalimantan Selatan (Pulo Laut).

comb. n. to Ephormotris Meyrick 1933 (Speidel & Mey 1999: 128). Here we treat it in Nymphicula.

Description

The wing pattern is very similar to most other Nymphicula spp. with fulvous-orange, brown and white patches. The FW median area is speckled grey and black in this sp. and there is a leaden grey patch near the tornus. The centre of the HW is a densly speckled dark grey and it submarginal areas are bright orange contrasting with five black marginal eyespots some of which have white lunules medially. There are many similar spp. of Nymphicula in S.E. Asia and many are undescribed. Mey (2009: 106) considers that the male genitalia in the genus are very similar and do not provide reliable characters for separating spp. so observing the details of the patterning is of importance.

References

• Hampson, G.F. (1897b) On the classification of two subfamilies of moths of the Family Pyralidae; the Hydrocampinae and Scoparianae. Trans. ent. Soc. Lond. 1897 (7): 127-240.
• Mey, W. (2009) New aquatic moths from high elevations of Mt. Kinabalu in northern Borneo (Lepidoptera: Pyraloidea, Acentropinae). Ent. Zeitschr., Stuttgart, 119 (3) 99 -107.
• Speidel, W. & Mey, W. (1999b) Catalogue of the oriental Acentropinae (Crambidae, Pyralidae). Tijdschr. v. Entomol. 142: 125-142, figs. 1-3.