Conogethes clioalis Walker

Taxonomy

The male [listed as female] holotype of Astura? clioalis Walker, 1859: 549-550 from Sarawak is in the Oxford UMNH. The type #1053 was collected by A.R. Wallace. The cotype? from Borneo (Pulau Laut) is in the BMNH. Comb. N. to Conogethes by RTS (1994: 193).

Comb. N. to Conogethes by RTS (1994: 193).

The cotype? from Kalimantan (Pulau Laut) and the holotype from Sarawak may not be conspecific.

Description

A lightly spotted Conogethes sp. It is orange-yellow with darker orange-brown marks and a series of submarginal black spots on both wings. The costal end of the FW post median and submedian lines are black whereas the rest of the lines are indistinct orange-brown. There is little FW variation within the series but the ends of HW median line (usually a indistinct ochreous-brown) may be distinctively black as in the male holotype. RTS (1994: 193, Pl. 31, fig. 17) illustrate a specimen from Singapore which is different from the holotype and that resembles the morphotype we illustrate as Conogethes sp. 6. It is often confused with the closely related C. punctiferalis Guenée, 1854: 320 which has larger and darker spots.

Life History

Seed predator on Shorea macrophylla (RTS).

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.
• Hampson, G.F. (1896) Moths, Vol. IV, In Blandford, W.T. (ed.), The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma, W.T., Taylor and Francis, London: xxiii + 594pp.
• [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.
• [RTS] 1994: 193, Pl. 31, fig. 17.
• Walker, F. (1859d [May 10]) Pyralides, In; List Spec. Lepid. Ins. Coll. B. M., Cat. Lepid. Heterocera. Ser. 4, 18: 509-798.