Taxonomic Information
Penicillifera Dierl, 1978 species known from India.
Penicillifera apicalis (Walker, 1862). India.
Penicillifera lactea (Hutton, 1865). India: Uttarakhand (TL: Mussoorie).
Penicillifera tamsi (Lemée, 1950). India: NE India, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh.
Photo Gallery and Species Biology
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Similar species: Penicillifera lactea (Hutton, 1865).
Diagnosis (Wang et al., 2015). Fig. 14 D. This species (P. lactea) is very similar to P. apicalis, but can be distinguished by the following characters: abdomen pale gray; costal margin of forewing edged with pale ochre; inner margin of hindwing with four black dots; uncus flanked laterally by two flattened processes; saccus not swollen apically.
Ocinara lactea Hutton, 1865, Trans. ent. Soc. Lond. 2 (3): 328, pl. 19, fig. 6. TL: “at Mussooree at an elevation of about 5,400 feet”. Type: male (BMNH) [examined].
Ocinara lactea; Kirby, 1892, A synonymic catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera 1: 717;
Hampson [1893], Fauna Brit. India: 34;
Strand, 1922, in Seitz, Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 10: 437; Grünberg, 1911, in Seitz, Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 2: 191.
| State | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | No date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | |||||||||||||
| Andhra Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Arunachal Pradesh | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Assam | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Bihar | |||||||||||||
| Chandigarh | |||||||||||||
| Chhattisgarh | |||||||||||||
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli | |||||||||||||
| Daman & Diu | |||||||||||||
| Delhi | |||||||||||||
| Goa | |||||||||||||
| Gujarat | |||||||||||||
| Haryana | |||||||||||||
| Himachal Pradesh | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Jammu and Kashmir UT | |||||||||||||
| Jharkhand | |||||||||||||
| Karnataka | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Kerala | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Ladakh UT | |||||||||||||
| Lakshadweep | |||||||||||||
| Madhya Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Maharashtra | |||||||||||||
| Manipur | |||||||||||||
| Meghalaya | |||||||||||||
| Mizoram | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Nagaland | |||||||||||||
| Odisha | |||||||||||||
| Paschimbanga | |||||||||||||
| Pondicherry | |||||||||||||
| Punjab | |||||||||||||
| Rajasthan | |||||||||||||
| Sikkim | |||||||||||||
| Tamil Nadu | |||||||||||||
| Tripura | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Uttar Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Uttarakhand | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| West Bengal | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Total | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Penicillifera apicalis (Walker, 1862) - Ficus semicordata, Ficus elastica, Ficus racemosa (Moraceae) (Robinson et al. 2010).
- OD: Dasychira apicalis Walker, 1862. J. Proc. Linn. Soc. (Zool.) 6: 130; TL: Sarawak. Text at https://archive.org/details/journalofproceed06linn/page/130/mode/1up?view=theater
- Dasychira signifera Walker, 1862. J. Proc. Linn. Soc. (Zool.) 6: 130; TL: Sarawak. Text at https://archive.org/details/journalofproceed06linn/page/130/mode/1up?view=theater
- Holloway, J. D. 1987. The Moths of Borneo. Part 3. Lasiocampidae, Eupterotidae, Bombycidae, Brahmaeidae. Plate 9,# pg. 85
- Wang, X., M. Wang, V. V. Zolotuhin, T. Hirowatari, S. Wu & G. Huang. 2015. The fauna of the family Bombycidae sensu lato (Insecta, Lepidoptera, Bombycoidea) from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hainan Islands. Zootaxa 3989 (1): 001–138.
Page citation
Anonymous 2025. Penicillifera apicalis (Walker, 1862) – . In Sondhi, S., R.P. Singh, G. Iyer, J. D'silva and K. Kunte (Chief Editors). Butterflies of India, v. 4.1. Published by the Indian Foundation for Butterflies. URL: https://www.mothsofindia.org/index.php/penicillifera-apicalis, accessed 2025/08/21.