Hemithea tritonaria (Walker, [1863]) -

Taxonomic Information

Similiar species:

Rather small Geometrinae with wingspan of ~30 mm. Numerous other members of the genus Hemithea are found in India. Holloway (1996) writes "Members of the [tritonaria] complex are only reliably separated by examination of the male genitalia."
 

Hemithea Duponchel, 1829 species known from India are listed. 

Hemithea antigrapha Prout, 1917. Khasi Hills, Meghalaya.

Hemithea aquamarina Hampson, 1895. Dharamsala, Khasis.

Hemithea himachalensis Walia, 2000. Himachal Pradesh (Nauni).
Hemithea insularia (Guenée, [1858]). Indian subregion.

Hemithea marina (Butler, 1878). Indian subregion.

Hemithea melalopha Prout, 1931. Khasi Hills, Meghalaya.

Hemithea ochrolauta (Warren, 1894). Uttarakhand, Nagaland; Bhutan. 

Hemithea tritonaria (Walker, 1863). Khasis, Nilgiris, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu

Hemithea wuka (Pagenstecher, 1886). Nilgiris. 


Hemithea insularia profecta Prout, 1933. Listed as synonym of Hemithea melalopha in MOB. But Plotkin et al 2020 lists both Hemithea insularia and Hemithea melalopha as valid species in their checklist of Geometrinae. 


There are reports of Hemithea costipunctata (Moore [1868]) from India (Sondhi et al. 2016; Dey et al. 2018), but Lepindex treats Hemithea costipunctata as a synonym of Hemithea marina (Butler, 1878) and Plotkin et al. 2020 do not list Hemithea costipunctata as a valid species in their global checklist of Geometrinae. 

Photo Gallery and Species Biology

StateJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecNo date
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Andhra Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Assam
Bihar
Chandigarh
Chhattisgarh
Dadra & Nagar Haveli
Daman & Diu
Delhi
Goa
Gujarat
Haryana
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir
Jharkhand
Karnataka
Kerala1
Lakshadweep
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra
Manipur
Meghalaya
Mizoram
Nagaland
Odisha
Paschimbanga
Pondicherry
Punjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim
Tamil Nadu
Tripura
Uttar Pradesh
Uttarakhand1
West Bengal
Total11

Hemithea tritonaria (Walker, [1863]) Flemingia macrophylla (Fabaceae) (Robinson et al. 2010).

  1. OD: Thalassodes tritonaria Walker, 1863. List Lep. Ins. B. M. 26: 1560. 
  2. Hampson, G. F. 1895. The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma. Moths, Vol.3. Taylor & Francis, London. Noctuidae (cont.) to Geometridae 546 p - 226 figs. Pg. 491, # 4059.
  3. Iyer, G., D. Stüning & S. Sondhi. 2021. An inventory of geometrid moths (Lepidoptera: Geometroidea: Geometridae) of Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 13(13): 19887–19920. 7105.13.13.19887-19920. Pl.5: 79.
  4. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/126723-Hemithea-tritonaria
  5. http://v3.boldsystems.org/index.php/Taxbrowser_Taxonpage?taxid=92185 [accessed 15 October 2019]
  6. http://www.jpmoth.org/Geometridae/Geometrinae/Hemithea_tritonaria.html [accessed 15 October 2019]

 

 

Page citation

Anonymous 2024. Hemithea tritonaria (Walker, [1863]) – . In Sondhi, S., Y. Sondhi, R.P. Singh, P. Roy and K. Kunte (Chief Editors). Butterflies of India, v. 3.72. Published by the Indian Foundation for Butterflies. URL: https://www.mothsofindia.org/hemithea-tritonaria, accessed 2024/03/29.