Monkey Moth

Description:

Eupterotidae; Eupterotinae; Eupterote sp. This rather tattered moth looks a little like an example of E. asclepiades in https://philepidoptera.wixsite.com/moths..., but I just felt it was not close enough to call it Eupterote sp. nr. asclepiades. As can be seen, the main colour is a kind of mustard yellow with a myriad of brown zigzag lines curving across the wings. For me, the main identifiers would be the heavy dark spot, down near the trailing edge of each front wing and also the marks along the leading edge of the front wings which immediately reminded me of a butterfly - Junonia almana almana which is very common here.

Habitat:

This Monkey Moth was spotted on a metal grill at the back of our house. It was, obviously, in a position which made it impossible to get a good ventral view. However, the dorsal view was good enough to give a useable shot. The "metal grill" is not exactly a detailed habitat description. So I felt I should expand a little. The back of our house looks out onto a vegetable garden and a rice field surrounded by Mango Trees, Mahogany Trees, a variety of Citrus Trees and a few stands of Bamboo. From October to June each year the rice field rests fallow and erupts into a tremendous variety of wild grasses and foliage I don't know what the host plants of Eupterotid Larvae are, but there must be something out there that could support this sp.

Notes:

The Family; Eupterotidae has great Diversity. Wikipedia explains "The family consists of four subfamilies and the unplaced Ganissa group. The subfamily Eupterotinae consists of about 11 genera, the Ganissa group about 10 genera, the subfamily Janinae about 16 genera, the subfamily Panacelinae consists of one genus and 3 species and the subfamily Striphnopteryginae of 15 genera."