Kalpana Kalpana (Editor)

Epiplema albida

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Kingdom
  
Animalia

Class
  
Insecta

Family
  
Uraniidae

Rank
  
Species

Phylum
  
Arthropoda

Order
  
Lepidoptera

Genus
  
Epiplema

Epiplema albida is a species of moth of the family Uraniidae. It is found in India, and Sri Lanka.

Description

It has a wingspan of 24 mm. Fore wings with outer margin evenly curved. Hind wings with slight tails at veins 4 and 7. Male has pale violaceous greyish brody with dark brown frons. Fore wings slightly irrorated with dark brown. There are indistinct red-brown antemedial and postmedial excurved lines, where the latter more or less indented and approaching the former below the cell. A submarginal series of red-brown specks below the apex. Hind wings more thickly irrorated with brown. Antemedial and postmedial lines more prominent and angled outwards at vein 4, where there are rufous patches inside them. A submarginal lunulate line present. Female more prominently brown irrorated. Fore wings with a complete marginal lunulate series present. Hind wings without the patches on the lines which is found in male.

Sri Lankan specimen possess darker striae. The antemedial and postmedial lines of both wings nearer together and filled in with fuscous. These variations suggest the subspecies from Sri Lanka as lanigera.

and the larvae feed on Ligustrum robustum (Oleaceae). It has been tested for biological control programms of its host-plant in La RĂ©union but had not been released.

References

Epiplema albida Wikipedia