Pagyda salvalis Walker
- Family: Crambidae
- Subfamily: Pyraustinae
- Genus: Pagyda
- Distribution: Sri Lanka, India (Sikkim, Meghalaya), Burma, Thailand, Singapore, Sabah, Brunei, Sarawak, Kalimantan Selatan, Taiwan, Japan. Solomon Is.
- Habitat: Lowland to lower montane forest & disturbed areas; <1580m.
- Wing Length: 7.5mm
Taxonomy
The holotype of Pagyda salvalis Walker, 1859: 487 by monotypy, is from Ceylon [Sri Lanka].
- syn. Botys arbiter Butler 1879 : 77, pl. 59 fig. 13;
- Nec syn. Pagyda pullalis Swinhoe, 1903: 510-511. TL Thailand [Siam], Muok-Lek.
Pagyda salvalis is the TS of Pagyda Walker, 1859.
Unfortunately during a long period when Pagyda was treated as a junior syn. many sp. were also treated as syns. of P. salvalis.
Pagyda was treated as a valid genus and brought out of syn. by Pajni & Rose (1978: 215) but many of the syns. of P. salvalis were never refuted subsequently.
Pagyda ochrealis Wileman, 1911 375: pl. 30, fig. 17. TL Japan (Takohama) is also widely treated as syn. but we consider it a good sp.
See Pagyda ochrealis Wileman, 1911: 375.
Description
A small Pagyda sp. with fulvous brown on a white background with a distinct purplish cast. The purple cast usually makes this group easily distinguishable. In P. salvalis the incomplete FW postmedian line is free and does not join other lines. Some specimens do not have the pronounced black marks on the FW costa and the transverse lines may vary in thickness. The variation of wingspan of morphotypes externally similar (15-24mm) may also indicate a sp.complex. Schulze (2000) Taxa #082, #083, #303
References
- Butler, A.G. (1879) Ill. Typ. Spec. Lep. Het B. M. Part III.: 77, pl. 59 fig. 13.
- Wileman, A. E. (1911) XV New and unrecorded species of Lepidoptera Heterocera from Japan, Tr. Roy. Ent. Soc. 59 (2): 189-407, pls. 30, 31.
- Pajni, H.R. & Rose, H.S. (1978) Revision of the genus Pagyda for the re validation of its synonym Synclera along with the description of a new species Lepidoptera Pyralidoidea Pyraustidae; Entomon 3 (2): 215-220.
- Schulze, C.H. (2000) Auswirkungen anthropogener Störungen auf die DiversitÀt von Herbivoren. (Analys von Nachtfalterzönosen entlang von Habitatgradienten in Ost-Malaysia). Unpubl. PhD Thesis, University of Bayreuth, Germany, 350pp.
- Walker, F. (1859c) Pyralides. In; List Spec. Lepid. Ins. Coll. B. M., Cat. Lepid. Heterocera. 17: 255-508.
