Basiana bilineata Walker, 1866, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus. 35: 1857. Type locality: [India, West Bengal,] Darjeeling [Darling].
Wingspan: 94--150mm.
This species does not normally fly until well after midnight, often only in the few hours before dawn.
China: iv-x (Hong Kong); vi (Guangxi); vii (Guangdong; Guizhou); viii (Fujian). Taiwan: iii-iv (Hualien Hsien).
Kendrick (2002) states that it is multivoltine in Hong Kong, occurring from late February until October, with peaks in April, late July-early August, and mid September.
OVUM: Pale grass-green, oval (2.3 x 1.8mm), smooth and shiny (Bell & Scott, 1937).
LARVA: Full-fed 85--100mm; width 15mm.; horn 6mm. In the final instar, head large and heavy, semi-elliptical in shape, vertex rounded, true clypeus small; apex acute, basal angles, rounded and tumid. Labrum over half length of and broader than clypeus; ligula kidney-shaped, the sinus rather narrow. Surface of head moderately shiny, covered with small, low, smooth, rounded tubercles. A line of larger tubercles stretches from the apex of each lobe to the base of the antenna, and there are parallel lines of tubercles on the cheek. Body thick and nearly cylindrical. Horn short but well developed, thick at base, tapering sharply to a blunt point, slightly down-curved. Surface of body dull with a transverse row of small, low tubercles around each secondary ring. There is a dorso-lateral and a subspiracular line of larger tubercles on segments 2 to 4, the latter joining the lower end of the oblique lateral stripe on 5. A line of large tubercles form each oblique stripe, those on 5 and 11 larger and more sharply pointed than the rest, the latter running across 12 to base of horn. Horn covered densely with small tubercles, and with larger tubercles on the anal flap and claspers (Bell & Scott, 1937).
In colour, head glaucous-green, the tubercles yellow. Labrum watery white; ligula pinkish; basal segment of antenna dirty white, other segments brownish. Mandible pinkish, tip blackish; eyes dark brown. Body grass-green with a glaucous tinge and yellow tubercles. Horn green with the tubercles yellow. Spiracles large, flush, parallel-sided, ends broadly rounded, colour yellowish-green.
Full-fed larvae are usually found at the ends of branches 3-6m from the ground. In the resting position the front part of the body is raised from the surface, the head bowed and the true legs bunched together the characteristic position for the whole genus (Bell & Scott, 1937).
PUPA: 48--57mm.; width 22mm. Colour bright chestnut, bevels of movable segments paler, spiracles and cremaster black. Large, slender and shiny; length from front of pupa to end of wing-cases more than rest of pupa. Frons broadly visible from below; antenna shorter than fore leg; often with a distinct coxal piece. Frons shallowly rugose-corrugate, base of tongue minutely transverse-corrugate; costa and veins of wing obscurely beaded; segment 4 pitted; strong antespiracular ridges on segments 9-11; a very small spiracle visible on segment 5. Cremaster wedge-shaped, upturned, the lower edge of base touching clasper-scars on 14; its surface very rugose and corrugate, excepting the narrow longitudinal ridge at the end, which is smooth and shiny (Bell & Scott, 1937).
Larval hostplants. Recorded on Pongamia pinnata, Millettia atropurpurea and Pterocarpus marsupium from India (Bell & Scott, 1937). In southern China from Mucuna and Pueraria.
China: Sichuan (Kangding; Xiaolou; Wulong); Chongqing (Fengjie); Yunnan; Guizhou (Jiucai Ling); Hunan; Fujian (Guangze; Longqi Shan); Guangdong (??Fung-Wan; ??Wan-tzi-san); Hong Kong; Guangxi (Jiajiu Shan, Bamian); Hainan.
Taiwan: Hualien Hsien (Taroko National Park).
Southern India, then from Nepal and northern India (Sikkim) across southern China to Taiwan.
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