Amerila astreus (Drury, 1773), 2018

Spitsyn, Vitaly M. & Bolotov, Ivan N., 2020, A review of the tiger moth genus Amerila Walker, 1855 from Flores Island, Indonesia, with a description of a new species (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae), Ecologica Montenegrina 33, pp. 1-7 : 3

Amerila astreus (Drury, 1773)

Type locality: Malaysia .

Figs 1 E-F, 2D-E, Table 1

Material examined. INDONESIA: East Nusa Tenggara, Flores Island, Sano Ngoang Lake , geothermal site, primary mountain rainforest, 8º43'1"S, 120º0'10"E, altitude 670 m a.s.l., 23.i.2015, 1♀, Bolotov leg. ; Kanawa Island, scarce forest of Ziziphrus jojoba, 8°29'31"S, 119°45'27"E, altitude 3 m a.s.l., 26.iv.2011, 1♂, Bolotov leg. ; Flores Island, Borong , dry monsoon forest and banana plantations, 8º49'05"S, 120º37'33"E, altitude 100 m a.s.l., 24-27.i.2020, 6 specimens, V. Spitsyn & E. Spitsyna leg. ; Flores Island, Bajawa, Wolokoro Ecolodge , heavily disturbed monsoon forests and eucalyptus plantings, 8º49'02"S, 120º56'03"E, altitude 1010 m a.s.l., 28-31.i.2020, 2 specimens, V. Spitsyn & E. Spitsyna leg. ; Flores Island, Bajawa, Manulalu Ecolodge , eucalyptus plantation with fragmented areas of natural vegetation, 8º51'45"S, 120º59'40"E, altitude 1100 m a.s.l., 01-02.ii.2020, 2 specimens, V. Spitsyn & E. Spitsyna leg. ; Flores Island, Labuan Bajo, Mbeliling Mountain Ecolodge , mountain monsoon forest, 8º35'21"S, 119º59'12"E, altitude 510 m a.s.l., 05-07.ii.2020, 2 specimens, V. Spitsyn & E. Spitsyna leg. ; Flores Island, Labuan Bajo , disturbed monsoon forest, 8°30'42"S, 119°54'09"E, altitude 100 m a.s.l., 13.ii.2020, 3 specimens, V. Spitsyn & E. Spitsyna leg.

Diagnosis. This widespread species can be distinguished from other taxa from tropical Asia and Australasia by having a pink dorsal side of the abdomen in both the male and the female. Externally, it resembles A. eugenia (Fabricius, 1794) (type locality India) but can be distinguished from it by having a grey ground color of the wings, a lesser curved ampulla, and larger coremata. This species can be separated from A. rhodopa Walker, 1864 (type locality India) and A. vitrea Plötz, 1880 (type locality West Africa) by having a clear dark, elongated spot between the cell apex and the costa on the forewing, and from A. fumida (Swinhoe, 1901) (type locality Indonesia: Halmaheira Is.; Timor) by having semitransparent wings.

Distribution. India, Sri-Lanka, Nepal, mainland China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indochina, Indonesia, and New Guinea ( Dubatolov 2010). On the Flores Island, this species was recorded from the sea level to 1100 m a.s.l. ( Bolotov et al. 2018; this study).

Figures

Figure 1. Amerila spp. from Flores Island, Indonesia. A-D A. rosenfeldae sp. nov.: A) male upperside (holotype); B) female upperside (paratype); C) male underside (holotype); D) female underside (paratype). E-F A. astreus: E) male upperside; F) female upperside. Scale bar = 10 mm. (Photos: Vitaly M. Spitsyn).