Taxonomy

Ssp. laevis; Thailand, Thai Chiang Mai, km. 15, Samoeng-Hang Dong Rd. The male holotype of Dysodia laevis from India (Meghalaya, Khasia Hills) is in the NHM (Mi7282). Once considered a syn. of D. miniata but reinstated as a good species by Shaffer (1984; Ms. stat n. LepIndex). Ms. syn. Varnia fenestrata Poujade,1891 type in MNH Paris. Praeoc. by Varnia fenestrata Moore, 1881.

Description

35mm. This is a rich purplish red-brown to chestnut coloured species. A few specimens are yellowish. There is a large heart-shaped fenestra on the HW. Three sspp. are distinguishable in the NHM series. Ssp. laevis Warren, 1900, India, Myanmar and Thailand. This is the most distinctly marked. Ssp. fenestrata Poujade,1891, Laos, and Hong Kong. Ssp. 1 unnamed; Sri Lanka. This is the smallest ssp.

Distribution & Habitat

S. China, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Laos, Burma [Myanmar], Thailand, W. Malaysia. Lowland; <600m.

Life History & Pest Status

No information

Similar spp.

This species is difficult to distinguish from D.pennitarsis Hampson, 1906 but there are subtle differences in the FW and HW fasciae which are thicker. The abdomen bears a series of darker spots in D. laevis and the vertex is pale in D.pennitarsis. It is also similar to D. raja in patterning but the course of the fascia on the HW is totally different. Warren (1900) comments, ‘distinguished from D.fenestrata Moore by the smoothness of scaling and the hyaline spot’.