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Arsacia Walker
Type
species: saturatalis Walker
(= rectalis
Walker), Peninsular Malaysia.
Synonyms:
Amblyzancla
Turner
(type species declivis Turner, Australia = rectalis);
Midea
Walker
(type species rectalis, Borneo) praeocc.;
Notocyma
Snellen
(type species pruinosa Snellen,
Congo).
This
genus consists of relatively small species with facies as described below. The
forewings have a slightly falcate tornus, and the dorsal margin is dentate just
basal to where the oblique line meets it, at about one third. The male antennae
are ciliate. The labial palps have a long, deep second segment extending well
beyond the head, with a very short, downturned third segment.
The male
abdomen has an eighth sternite of the framed, corematous type, and the tergite
is narrowly sclerotised anteriorly but this expands abruptly over the posterior
margin. In the genitalia, the uncus is long, slender, curved. The tegumen on
each side has a slight peniculus. The valves are simple, tongue-like, narrow,
slightly curved, with a spur-like process arising from the costa centrally. The
aedeagus vesica is simple with one very large cornutus.
In the
female, the ostium opens within the eighth segment. The ductus is narrow, short;
the corpus bursae is irregularly pyriform, basally slightly fluted, and with
fine scobination extending over much of its interior.
The
current concept of the genus is that it contains one widespread Old World
tropical species, rectalis.
However, limited dissection throughout this range indicated that African
material differs from that from the Indo-Australian tropics, having a small,
central spur to the shorter, broader valve, and considerably reduced scobination
to the corpus bursae. This must be regarded as a distinct species, A.
pruinosa Snellen
stat.
rev. (type
locality in Congo, as in Nye (1975), rather than New Guinea, as in Poole
(1989)). This was also noted by Fibiger (2003) for the African member of the
complex, with the suggestion that it was not even congeneric. Unfortunately he
identified the taxon as the Australian declivis
Turner.
If he is correct about the generic distinction, the name Notocyma
Snellen
is available.
The
biology of the type species is described below.
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