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Perina sunda
A black Tussock moth that seems to mimic a small cicada. It is currently believed to be a Perina sunda. This is a male, females have no transparent wings. Front wings are transparent and veined. Smaller hind wings are mostly black with a little bit of transparent area. Furry grey antennae, bright grey legs. A tuft of brown hair on the middle of its thorax. Body length (excluded wings) is about 2cm.
Kundasang highlands, Sabah, Malaysia. (They can live up to 1618m above sea level, this one was found at 1020m)
Thank you HS Barlow for confirming that this is a Perina sunda. This is a rare find, I should have uploaded this spotting during the moth week. This is my 155th spotting uploaded. >>>Map accuracy : 15m diameter.
Chun, did you accidentally identify this as P. nuda instead of P. sunda? P. nuda is much more orange, and would have been visible at this angle.
Thank you iGor and AshishNimkar.
Unfortunately this is the only photo I have of this moth.
Hi Chun! I have suggested the ID I agree with (unfortunately the only reference link available is the Moths of Borneo one, which means it is a greatly under documented species). I would suggest you email the expert behind the Moths of Borneo website, for he may be able to confirm the ID (not sure if he does ID confirms, yet this would be a good way to find out). Honestly, I am not even sure if the email is valid anymore.
His email is below:
hsbar@pc.jaring.my
Thanks Emma & jgorneau.
Wow, I would never suspect that this is a tussock moth.
If it's genus is confirmed as Perina, then the possible species could be Perina sunda because that is the only Perina moth recorded in the website - Moths of Borneo.
http://www.mothsofborneo.com/part-5/leuc...
Or a male clearwing tussock moth: similar to Perina nuda, yet lacking the orange markings: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&s...
I'm just throwing this idea out there...what if all the moth's scales had fallen off? It would appear like this.
Thank you all for your comments.
So far it is not recorded in www.mothsofborneo.com yet, that is my main online resource for identifying Bornean moths.
ID is still unknown, calling for moth experts.
Spotted on Dec 12, 2009
Submitted on Aug 1, 2012
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