Ategumia adipalis (Lederer, 1863)
(one synonym : Botys notatalis Walker, 1866)
SPILOMELINI   ,     PYRAUSTINAE   ,     CRAMBIDAE

Don Herbison-Evans
&
Stella Crossley & Bart Hacobian

(updated 13 June 2005)

(Specimen: from Cairns, Queensland,
courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The adult moth of this species is pale yellow with broad brown margins to the wings. The forewings also have a broad castellated brown band along the costa. Each hindwing has a brown spot near the centre. The wingspan is about 2 cms.

This species was described from a specimen caught in Amboina in the Moluccas group. It seems to be distributed from India to Australia, including

It was introduced deliberaely into Hawaii.

No systematic work has yet been carried out on this species. It could well prove to be a species-complex across its range. There is considerable variation over its range, which strongly suggests that it will be split up into several species. The Australian specimens could well be one, and so form an as yet undescribed species.

The British Museum has one Australian example of this species from Port Darwin. The Macleay Museum specimen from Cairns is seemingly whiter in appearance than the Darwin specimen in the British Museum, so there may even be more than one species in Australia.