Wasp Moth – Euchromia polymena

I photographed this day flying moth when I was doing review of Panasonic Lumix FZ-200 Camera at Gurupur. This Euchromia polymena moth is also called a wasp moth as it looks like a dangerous wasp. It utilizes this act of mimicry to put off potential predators who are familiar with the wasp’s sting. This colorful moth was feeding on the Eupatorium flowers. I shot these photos in JPEG and not in RAW. You can see some amount of white fringing on the flowers, which are difficult to remove during post processing. In my brief review of FZ-200, I have explained the optimal setting which can help you to capture c lean images without these artifacts.

The antennae of Euchromia polymena moth are moderately bipectinate in both sexes. Both wings have antemedial and postmedial blocks of pale orange or yellow color, traversed by veins that are dark brown or blackish – the ground colour of the wings. There is a pale blue lunule at the end of the forewing cell between the major areas of pale color. The abdomen is ringed basally with red, the next two segments are ringed blue, followed by only two segments ringed red distally, the third one having a blue ring.

The male genitalia have simple valves, a broad, divided juxta, a short, broad uncus set on a rather shouldered tegumen. The aedeagus vesica is unadorned though its membrane may be irregularly thickened on one side.

In the female genitalia there is a massive ventral gland associated with the ovipositor lobes as well as the usual dorsal ones. Segment eight is weak, narrow, with short apodemes. The ductus bursae broadens out to the width of the abdomen at the ostium. The bursa has a distal spherical portion that is densely and darkly scobinate, and a basal tubular portion that contains three robust, spined bands of sclerotisation; there is an appendix bursae just basal to these bands.

The larva and cocoon of E. polymena found on the host-plant was Ipomoea (Convolvulaceae). The eggs are laid in batches on the underside of leaves. They are smooth, shining, spherical, honey colored. The larvae are gregarious, only separating when almost fully grown. The general body color is brownish orange; the transverse bands of tufts are laterally black but dorsally buff, except on A1 and A8 where they are all black. The rounded cocoon is spun between leaves in a crevice of bark or on any surface. It fits the pupa closely, and the short setae from the transverse tufts are embedded in it, erect, carpet-like. The cocoon is surrounded by a fence of the black setae from the tufts.

Euchromia polymena is found in India and south-eastern Asia, as well as on Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo and the Philippines. It is also present in the northern part of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.