Nyctemera amicus (White, 1841)

White, A. (1841). [Descriptions of new species of insects.] In: Grey, G.,
Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia,
during the years 1837, 38, and 39, vol. 2, Appendix: p. 482. Described in the
genus Agagles.

Agagles amicus, n. s.

A new species, at first sight resembling Leptosoma annulatum, Boisduval, (Voy.
de l'Astrolabe, i. p. 197, pl. 5, fig. 9,) but differs; the thorax having four
longitudinal, narrow, light coloured lines, the band across the upper wings is
more continuous, and the circular spot on lower, larger. It is about the same
size, and has the body ringed with black and yellow; the legs are brown; the
femora on under side fringed with whitish hairs, simply pectinated; many of the
pectinations of the antennae end in a bristle-like hair; palpi somewhat
prominent; last joint pointed.

The species it is compared with, Leptosoma annulatum, is described by Boisduval,
J. B. A. (1832), Faune entomologique de l'Ocean Pacifique, avec l'illustration
des insectes nouveaux recueillis pendant le voyage. Lepidopteres. In: Dumont
d'Urville, Voyage de decouvertes de l'Astrolabe, Entomologie 1: pp. 197-198, pl.
5, fig. 9, as follows. Translated from the Latin and French original.

1. L. annele, Annulatum. Boisd. Pl. 5, fig. 9.

Wings concolorous, black; fore wings with a white macular band; hind wings with
a larger white dot; abdomen black with orange rings.

Wings alike on both sides, black; the upper ones with a white macular band; the
lower ones with a large white dot; abdomen black, with a series of orange rings.

It has the habit and the size of Coletta from Java. Its four wings are of a dull
black.

The upper ones have, beyond the middle, an oblique, macular white band,
appearing to be composed of five spots, two of which are larger.

The lower ones have, near the outer margin, a large white dot. The abdomen is
alternately ringed with black and orange. The underside does not differ from the
upperside.

New Guinea.

Seitz, A. (1915). Nyctemera. In: Seitz, A. (ed.), The Macrolepidoptera of the
World, vol. 10, The Indo-Australian Bombyces and Sphinges: p. 270, pl. 29 h
(German edition: Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 10: 270). As Nyctemera amica.

N. amica White (= annulata Wkr. nec Bsd., plagiata Guen., conica [laps.] Ky.)
(29 h). Like annulata, the bone-white band of the forewing broader, notched on
the median, but not interrupted; the spot on the hindwing considerably larger
than in the preceding. In the whole of Eastern Australia. -- secundaria Luc. (29
i), from North Queensland, has more pointed wings, a broader discal band of the
forewing and a much larger white spot of the hindwing. -- The larva of amica
lives on Senecio scandens all the year round, it is black, marked red, and at
the sides of its head there are somewhat longer hair-pencils. The imago is
extremely common; I often saw innumerable flying round the twigs on top of
trees, strikingly resembling by their restless flight the swarming of the
European Bupalus piniaria. They also fly in winter, are fond of visiting
blossoms and rest in the grass, but are easily chased up. Common.

The preceding species, to which Seitz compares it, is described on the same page
as follows.

N. annulata Bsd. nec Wkr. (= doubledayi Wkr.) (29 h) is quite uni-coloured
blackish-brown. The forewing with 2 or 3 discal spots often contiguous and in
the shape of a small band extending from the costa towards the anal angle, the
hindwing with a white spot at the cell-end. Abdomen black and curled in a yolk-
colour. -- Larva black, not long-haired, but with light tufts of stiff hair,
with a red dorsal line and red sides, on Senecio bellidioides, scandens and
vulgaris, as well as on Cineraria maritima. In warmer districts throughout the
year. It pupates in a web intermixed with hair. Pupa lustrous black, marked
yellow, yielding the imago after 4 to 6 weeks. The latter flies in day-time
(like all the Nyctemera), mostly favouring the early hours of the morning. In
New Zealand, everywhere common, beside some Pyrameis the most common
lepidopteron there. It varies considerably in the extent of the white spots, but
there are always transitions, and it is not justified to denominate these
deviations.