Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Superfamily Noctuoidea Rank Species | Phylum Arthropoda Order Lepidoptera Family Erebidae | |
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Similar Spirama, Erebus ephesperis, Speiredonia, Erebus macrops, Hypopyra | ||
Owlet moth spirama retorta
The Indian Owlet-moth (Spirama retorta) is a moth of the Erebidae family. It is found in China (Tibet, Qinghai, Jiangsu, Fukien, Yunnan), Korea, Japan (Honshu), India (Sikkim, West Bengal), Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Vietnam, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, the Philippines (Luzon), Indonesia (Java, Sulawesi).
Contents
Description
Wingspan of male about 64-76mm and 66-88 in female. The pattern on the wings often looks like the face of a snake with slightly opened mouth. Fore wings with arched costa towards apex, which is nearly rectangular. Male with a fold on inner area of hind wing, containing an erectile ridge of very long hair. Antennae fasciculate. Male has dark chestnut-brown colored head and collar. Thorax paler with dark bands. Abdomen crimson with triangular black dorsal patches. Wings fuscous brown. Fore wing with the costal and outer area more or less suffused with purplish and sometimes with an olive tinge. An antemedial line curved outwards below costa, and then oblique to inner margin. There is a large "inverted-comma" mark beyond end of cell, with ochreous and black edges and some white on inner edge of "tail", the center fuscous-black. A postmedial curved line passing round the stigma or interrupted by it. Another postmedial line excurved below costa and slightly sinuous. Two crenulate sub-marginal line and two more prominent lines can be found within the margin. Hind wings with indistinct antemedial, medial, and traces of two postmedial and a sub-marginal line. Ventral side is suffused with dull red and having two medial lines and single postmedial to each wing.
Female basically ochreous colored. Fore wings with larger stigma than male. Hind wings with prominent markings. Two antemedial lines and an ochreous submarginal line can be seen seen along with two crenulate black lines inside the margin. Ventral side orange-scarlet colored, each wing with cell-spot, medial, postmedial and submarginal lines and series of lunules inside the margin.
Caterpillars known to feed on Acacia mangium, which was investigated from Peninsular Malaysia. Predators like Sycanus leucomesus, Cantheconidea furcellata, Mallada basalis, and Vespa affinis are observed to feed on caterpillars. Caterpillars are also feed on Acacia auriculiformis, Acacia crassicarpa, and Falcataria moluccana.