Insect: Milionia Basalis 橙帶藍尺蛾

When I was quarantined in Taiwan in June 2022, I lived in an apartment on the 13th floor. I got up early in the morning to exercise on the balcony and I saw several black butterflies with bright yellow and orange stripes. I’m amazed that butterflies can be active on such a high floor of the building. After a bit of searching, it turned out that it was the Milionia Basalis, which is a flying moth and often mistaken for a butterfly. Later I saw mating moths when I walked around the town. When I sorted through the photos (the last photo below), I found out that I had seen mating moths on the wall in the apartment that I stayed in. I originally thought it was a butterfly with a very unique pattern from a distance. Milionia basalis is a day flying moth of the family Geometridae. It mainly hosts trees such as Nageia nagi or podocarpus. It is found in Japan, the north-eastern parts of the Himalayas, Myanmar and Sundaland.
2022 年 6 月在臺灣隔離的時候住在13樓的公寓中，一大早起床在陽台上運動，就看到好幾隻黑色的蝴蝶有著鮮艷黃橘色的斑紋，我很驚訝蝴蝶能在這麼高的樓層上出沒，經過一番搜尋才得知這是橙帶藍尺蛾，這種飛蛾常被誤認為蝴蝶。我之後走在路上還看到正在交配的蛾。我在整理照片的時候才發現（下面照片的最後一張）我老早在公寓的牆上就已經看到交配的蛾，只是距離遙遠，原以為是一隻有非常奇特花紋的蝴蝶。橙帶藍尺亦名黃帶枝尺蛾，是尺蛾科中的一種晝行性飛蛾。主要寄主於竹柏或羅漢松等樹木。分佈於日本、喜馬拉雅山東北部、緬甸和巽他蘭。

Photo Date: 2022.06 Location: Taiwan

Notes 筆記

  • Milionia basalis is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is a day flying moth. Often seen as a butterfly. It mainly hosts trees such as Nageia nagi or podocarpus.
  • It is found in Japan, the north-eastern parts of the Himalayas, Myanmar and Sundaland.
  • The larvae feed on Dacrydium and Podocarpus species. The adult feed on the nectar flowers of Leptospermum flavescens in the mountains of Peninsular Malaysia.
  • The wingspan of the Milionia Basalis is 54 to 59 mm. The body color and wings are black, with vivid blue metallic spots in small areas; the upper and lower wings have bright orange stripes. The difference between males and females is not obvious.
  • 橙帶藍尺亦名黃帶枝尺蛾，是尺蛾科中的一種晝行性飛蛾。常被視為蝴蝶。主要寄主於竹柏或羅漢松等樹木。
  • 分佈於日本、喜馬拉雅山東北部、緬甸和巽他蘭。
  • 幼蟲以陸均松和羅漢松物種為食。成蟲以馬來西亞半島山區的爪哇薄子木的花蜜為食。
  • 橙帶藍尺蛾展翅寬 54～59 mm。體色與翅膀底色黑色，局部小區域具強烈的藍色金屬光斑；上、下翅具鮮明的橙色帶狀斑紋。雌雄差異較不明顯。

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References 參考資料

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