BR. J. ENT. NAT. HIST., 7: 1994 \,; 



near Yuen Long in September 1987 and October 1988 and a third at Hole Tau 

 on 24 April 1988. K. L. found a second instar larva on Ludwigia caryophylla 

 (Lam.) Merr. & Mete. (Onagraceae) (plant det. confirmed by the herbalist 

 Mr Lee Ning Hong) on 2 May 1992 at Ho Chung in Sai Kung. The plants were 

 growing as weeds in wet muddy fields among rows of ginger-lily Hedychium 

 coronarium J. Koenig cultivated for its fragrant flowers. This larva was reared 

 and burrowed to pupate on 18 May, the adult emerging on 1 June 1992. On 

 5 October 1992 some eggs were found by K. L. on Columella corniculata (Benth.) 

 Merr. (Vitaceae) (plant det. confirmed by the Hong Kong herbarium) together 

 with a yellowish first instar larva 9 mm in length found on the young reddish 

 leaves. As the larva grew it turned at first reddish and matched the leaves, then 

 turned brown in the third instar. The larva pupated on 7 November and emerged 

 on 22 November 1992. In addition larvae have been found and reared on Ampelopsis 

 brevipedunculata Koehne (Vitaceae) by Norman Tong. The latter plant is a very 

 common species. Bascombe (in Tennent, 1992) has also reared larvae on this plant 

 and several others. 



Theretra suffusa (Walk., 1856) 



We saw a single fresh specimen of this species, at Long Harbour. Tennent (1992) 

 records 58 individuals at Pak Shak O, which, like Long Harbour, is on the Sai Kung 

 peninsula, but he only saw one or two at other localities. 



Theretra pallicosta (Walk., 1856) 



Tennent found this species to be widespread throughout Hong Kong, with adults 

 from April to September but never saw the insect in any numbers. K. L. has only 

 seen the adult once during several years of inspecting outdoor lights in a variety of 

 locations. His specimen was taken in Tan Kwai Tusen, Yuen Long, on 1 June 1987 

 at a fluorescent light in a garage. K. L. found a single larva on Aporusa chinensis 

 (Champ.) Merr. (Euphorbiaceae) in mid-May in the Fung Shui woodland of Pak Long 

 Tsuen, Lung Kwu Tan, and fourteen eggs on a small stand of the same species of 

 plant on 3 July 1993 on the Aberdeen Reservoir Road. These were reared and the 

 adults emerged in August. We saw only one adult (Plate III, Fig. 3) and on only 

 one of the three consecutive nights of trapping at Long Harbour. The specimen is 

 in good but not fresh condition although some of the wear may have been due to 

 activity within the confines of the trap. 



Pergesa acteus (Cramer, 1779) 



Tennent encountered only nine adults during his 18 month survey but found it in 

 a variety of habitats and sites including to the light of a block of flats. K. L . considers 

 the species widespread and has noted it at lights in habitats ranging from woodland 

 to abandoned agricultural land, including Tan Kwai Tsuen, near Yuen Long where 

 the moth has been noted at fluorescent lights in April, June and October. Both 

 M. Bascombe and K. L. have found and reared the larvae on Alocasia odora (Araceae) 

 which is a fairly common plant that is often found by forest paths and the concreted 

 paths that run between villages, preferring shady, moist situations by trees. K. L. 

 found four larvae under leaves of a single plant by one such village path. The single 

 adult (Plate III, Fig. 4) that we saw was encountered not at the light trap but on 

 the lighted wall of the public lavatory by the roadside on the edge of the woodland 

 at Tai Po Kau (Fig. 5). 



