The Episparis group of genera
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Egnasia Walker

Type species: ephyrodalis Walker, India, Bangladesh.

Matella Moore (type species accingalis Walker, Sri Lanka) praeocc.; Spectrophysa Swinhoe (type species distorta Swinhoe, Borneo); Talmela Nye (replacement name for Matella).

The facies of the species in this genus is distinctive, though highly modified in the forewings of males of
distorta. The wings have irregular margins, a generally medium ochreous brown ground colour with nacreous discal spots and fine dark fasciae on fore- and hindwings. The wings may have an uneven greenish or purplish suffusion on the upperside. The male antennae are ciliate, with one bristle on each flagellomere distinctly longer.

The male abdomen has an eighth segment that is short, not of the framed corematous type (the tergite lacks apodemes), but with the distal margin of the sternite deeply excavated. The genitalia have a diversity of structure to the uncus (e.g. T-shaped in accingalis), and the valves are relatively short but variably divided into costal and saccular arms that are usually slender. The valve bases are often fused, bearing projections that may usurp the role of the juxta (which is not apparent).

The female has an ovipositor typical of the Episparis-group and the ostium is between the seventh and eighth segments. The ductus and corpus bursae are diverse in structure, and the latter may be extensively scobinate, sometimes with bands of scobination in the distal part.

The genus is predominantly Oriental and African, but some of the species currently associated with it are probably misplaced. Several of the smaller species are transferred to other genera in the next section (p. 306).

The type species was reared by Bell (MS) in India. It is spindle-shaped, a uniform pale grass-green with a darker green dorsal line along the body. All prolegs are developed, though those of A3 and A4 are slightly smaller. Hatchling larvae rest and feed stretched beneath young leaves, a habit that continues to maturity. Pupation is in a loose cocoon on the ground, covered with particles of earth.

The host plants of this and another Indian species studied by Bell,
E. participalis Walker, are all in the Rubiaceae: Canthium, Randia and Vangueria (Robinson et al., 2001).

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