Utetheisa pulchelloides
Utetheisa pulchelloides, the heliotrope moth, is a moth of the family Erebidae. It is found in the Indo-Australian region including Borneo, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Papua, Seychelles, most of Australia, Tenerife, La Línea de la Concepción and Greece. The species was first described by George Hampson in 1907.
Adults undertake extensive and frequent migratory flights and can reach the most remote oceanic islands, such as Henderson Island and Ducie Island.
Description
Hindwing of male with no fold or glandular tuft on inner margin. Head and thorax yellowish. Collar and tegula each with two black spots. Each thoracic segment with one each black spot. Third joint of palpi black and abdomen whitish. Forewing white with five interrupted scarlet bands with series of black spots between them. A marginal series of black spots present. Hindwings are semi-diaphanous white, but some specimen with black on the discocellulars. A very irregular black sub-marginal band, broad at apical area and between veins 1b and 3. Larva dark grey with a dorsal white band and sub-dorsal series of red spots. Head yellow. It pupates in a loose cocoon that spun in the leaf litter on the ground below the food plant.Ecology
The larvae feed on Argusia argentea, Echium plantagineum, Heliotropium arborescens and Myosotis arvensis.Subspecies
Utetheisa pulchelloides pulchelloides Hampson, 1907 Utetheisa pulchelloides aphanis Jordan, 1939 Utetheisa pulchelloides darwini Jordan, 1939 Utetheisa pulchelloides marshallorum Rothschild, 1910 Utetheisa pulchelloides papuana Jordan, 1939 Utetheisa pulchelloides umata Jordan, 1939 Utetheisa pulchelloides vaga Jordan, 1939Utetheisa salomonis may also belong into this species.