Another Sesiidae

[Vodkaman]

Photographed in Bandung, W. Java.

I photographed this one yesterday. It looked and behaved very much like a wasp, waggling its abdomen up and down.

One photo reference to zygaenidae found. Any further help would be appreciated.

Thanks Les for the family ID (originally labelled sessidae).

Dave

[Painted Jezebel]

Try Zygaenidae, not Sesiidae! Forewing shape and antennae are wrong for that familly.

[Vodkaman]

Good job Les.

I found one photo reference to zygaenidae, but could not get any closer than family.

Many thanks.

Dave

[Psyche]

I happened to have the Zygaenidae section of Moths of Borneo which is not available on line.

There is one species in which the FW markngs match .
However, the black is described as tinged with green & the wingbases bight green.
This is Ephemeroidea virescens.

You might want to check if the moth is green rather than blue in real-life.

There are hardly any info on the web.

TL Seow

[Vodkaman]

I did check out 'Moths of Borneo' and was most surprised not to find any Zygaenidae references!

Unfortunately, there is no mistake in the image, it was most definitely blue with not a hint of green.

Dave

[Psyche]

There does not seem to be any other genus with the forewing pattern like this.

There are only 3 species of Ephemeroidea known.

E. virescens in Sumatra, Java & Borneo.

E. ariel & flavicinctus in Myanmar.
No mention of what kind of irridescent colour these two have.

TL. Seow

[Vodkaman]

A lot more photographs required, but this is the only specimen I have seen in over two years. I don't like to capture specimens, but maybe in this case, it would be the right thing to do.

I will do more research on the above suggestions. The answer must be amongst them.

Thank you.

Dave

[Vodkaman]

A lot more photographs required, but this is the only specimen I have seen in over two years. I don't like to capture specimens, but maybe in this case, it would be the right thing to do.

I will do more research on the above suggestions. The answer must be amongst them.

Thank you.

Dave

[hkmoths]

in the text of E. virescens within MoB, note "The branching system of the forewing radial sector is further from the margin than in ariel" and goes on to say that virescens' black scales are "tinged greenish in places everywhere". I would suggest that, also given the distribution of virescens as Java, Sumatra and Borneo, the use of Ephemeroidea sp. cf. ariel is the most reasonable option for now.... but also note the colours from the original description of ariel in Hampson (Moths of British India vol 2):
"508. Ephemeroidea ariel, n. sp.
Head, thorax, and abdomen black, with copper and green reflections. Wings hyaline, the veins and margins narrowly black; the inner margin of fore wing and costa of hind wing broadly so.
Hab. Bernardmyo, Burma, 6000 feet, May (Doherty). Exp. 20 millim. Type in coll. Elwes."
seems this one is another mystery that will only be solved with voucher specimens :(