Utetheisa pulchelloides Hampson, 1907 - Heliotrope Moth

Taxonomic Information

List of Utetheisa Hübner, [1819] 1816 known from India.
Utetheisa antennata (Swinhoe, 1893). India (Nicobar Islands).
Utetheisa lotrix (Cramer, 1779). India (Throughout India, Andaman & Nicobar, Chhattisgarh).
Utetheisa pulchella (Linnaeus, 1758). India (Andaman, Throughout India, Lakshadweep).
Utetheisa pulchelloides Hampson, 1907. India (North India to Rajasthan, Sikkim, Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Orissa, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Throughout India including Madhya Pradesh, Bihar).
Utetheisa (Pitasila) assamica De Vos, 2007. India (NE India, Assam).
Utetheisa (Pitasila) leucospilota (Moore, 1877), India (Andaman & Nicobar Islands).
Utetheisa (Pitasila) selecta (Walker, 1854). India (Andamans).
Utetheisa (Pitasila) varians (Walker, 1854). India (NE India, NW Himalayas, West Bengal, Sikkim).
Utetheisa (Pitasila) variolosa (Felder & Rogenhofer, [1869] 1874). India (Andaman & Nicobar Islands. 

Photo Gallery and Species Biology

Similar species: Utetheisa lotrix and Utetheisa pulchella. HW markings assist in separation. Best separated by male genitalia. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utetheisa_pulchella for pulchella
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utetheisa_lotrix for lotrix
As per Moths of Borneo, the diagnosis for separating pulchelloides and lotrix is mentioned below. 
http://www.mothsofborneo.com/part-6/arctiinae/arctiinae-7-2.php for lotrix

Diagnosis. This and the next species are most reliably separated by examination of the male genitalia. There are differences in the male antennae (Roepke, 1941; Robinson, 1971) and also a usually reliable difference in the forewing: there is a red patch between the more elongate pair of black marginal marks at the tornus and the subdorsal black spot of the submarginal in pulchelloides that is lacking in lotrix.

StateJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecNo date
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Andhra Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Assam
Bihar
Chandigarh
Chhattisgarh
Dadra & Nagar Haveli
Daman & Diu
Delhi
Goa
Gujarat11
Haryana
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir
Jharkhand
Karnataka
Kerala
Lakshadweep
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra1
Manipur
Meghalaya
Mizoram
Nagaland
Odisha
Paschimbanga1
Pondicherry
Punjab
Rajasthan2
Sikkim
Tamil Nadu
Tripura
Uttar Pradesh
Uttarakhand
West Bengal2
Total3113

Utetheisa pulchelloides Hampson, 1907 – Heliotrope Moth: Heliotropium indicum, Tournefortia argentea (Boraginaceae)(Robinson et al. 2010).

  1. OD: Utetheisa pulchelloides Hampson, 1907; Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (7) 19 (111): 239; TL: Chagos Is., Peros Banhos

  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utetheisa_pulchelloides

  3. http://www.mothsofborneo.com/part-6/arctiinae/arctiinae-7-1.php

  4. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/125231-Utetheisa-pulchelloides

  5. http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/arct/pulch.html [accessed 07 August 2017]

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Page citation

Anonymous 2024. Utetheisa pulchelloides Hampson, 1907 – Heliotrope Moth. In Sondhi, S., Y. Sondhi, R.P. Singh, P. Roy and K. Kunte (Chief Editors). Butterflies of India, v. 3.73. Published by the Indian Foundation for Butterflies. URL: https://www.mothsofindia.org/utetheisa-pulchelloides, accessed 2024/04/18.