PTERA . 



443 



Status. — May be a serious pest oi IV. ik Forests. Ai Nilambur 

 the larvae have been noted to be kept in check by Mynahs. 



Remarks. -Hole (I.e.) quotes damastesalis, Wlk.. as a synonym 

 of this insect, but Hampson (B.J., XV, 221) had already pointed 

 out that damastesalis, Wlk.. is a Pionea and the same species as 

 leucanalis, Swinh. I presume that the Teak defoliator is macharalis, 

 Wlk., and have therefore retained the name in the absence of 

 specimens from Nilambur. 



PTLROPHOKIKl 

 SPHENARCHES CAFFER, Z. 

 Oxyptilus caffer, Zeller, Linn. Ent., VI, 348. 



Sphenarches caffer, Wlsm., I.M.N., II, 20 figs. ; Lefroy, Ent. Mem. 

 Agri. Dept., Ind., I, 220; End. Ins. Life, p. 528. f. 343; Fletcher, Spol. 

 Zevl.. VI. 21. t. E., I. S, 10, t. F., f. I (1909)- 







o^' 



Sphenarches caffer, larva, pupa and moth. The outline 1 



show the natural mala 



Distribution. — Throughout Southern India, in the Plains and 

 Hills. 



Lifehistory. — Eggs are laid singly on buds and leaves. The full- 

 grown caterpillar is about 7 mm. long, rather stout, segments well 

 marked, all legs long and slender, all segments with a few large 

 mitting long hairs of which two on each side have palmate 

 tips and the whole body alsocloselj studded with short white club- 

 bed hairs ; in colour variable, paler or darker green or greenish- 

 yellow, with a narrow darker line along the back and a series of 

 reddish spots forming a stripe along the sides. Pupa pale pink 

 and greenish. 1 o\ ered with complex spines ; attached by the tail to 

 the undersurface of the mid-rib of a leaf or to a stem : pupal period 

 about 5 — 7 days. 



