Ophiusa trapezium is a moth of the family Erebidae first described by Achille Guenée in 1852. It is found from the Indo-Australian tropics of India, Sri Lanka to Queensland, the Bismarck Islands and New Caledonia. Adults are fruit piercers.[1]

Ophiusa trapezium
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Erebidae
Genus: Ophiusa
Species:
O. trapezium
Binomial name
Ophiusa trapezium
(Guenée, 1852)
Synonyms
  • Ophiodes trapezium Guenée, 1852
  • Ophisma circumferens Walker, 1865
  • Ophiusa circumferens (Walker, 1865)
  • Ophisma cognata Walker, 1865
  • Ophiusa cognata (Walker, 1865)
  • Ophiodes adusta Moore, 1882
  • Ophiusa adusta (Moore, 1882)
  • Minucia prunicolor Moore, 1885
  • Ophiusa prunicolor (Moore, 1885)
  • Ophiusa kebea Bethune-Baker, 1906
  • Anua trapezium Guenée; Holloway, 1976
  • Ophiusa circumferens (Walker, 1865)

Description

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It has a wingspan of 66 mm. The head and thorax are bright rufous. Shaft of antennae whitish. Abdomen brownish fuscous. Forewings bright rufous suffused with purplish as far as the postmedial line and beyond the submarginal line. There is an outwardly oblique antemedial line jointed at inner margin by the obliquely waved postmedial line. The reniform with rufous outline. A double sub-marginal straight line and marginal dentate line. Hindwings brownish ochreous. The inner area clothed with fuscous hair. A broad diffused sub-marginal fuscous band present. Ventral side brownish ochreous. Forewings with fuscous cell and a submarginal patch.[2]

Larvae have been reared on Melaleuca species (Myrtaceae) and Melastoma malabathricum (Melastomataceae).[3]

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References

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  1. ^ Holloway, Jeremy Daniel. "Ophiusa trapezium Guenée". The Moths of Borneo. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
  2. ^ Hampson, G. F. (1894). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma: Moths Volume II. Taylor and Francis – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  3. ^ "Leong, T. M., 2009. Late instar larva and metamorphosis of Ophiusa trapezium (Guenée) in Singapore (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Catocalinae). Nature in Singapore, 2: 203–207" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-01-03. Retrieved 2015-01-03.