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Zeuzera Latreille
Type species: aesculi Linnaeus ( = pyrina Linnaeus)
Synonyms: Aegolia Billberg; Latagia Hubner.
The wing venation is illustrated in Fig.4. below. The forewing pattern is of
iridescent black striae or spots on a white or greyish ground, somewhat
translucent. The hindwings are less spotted, sometimes immaculate except for
marginal spots which are usually heaviest and often fused together over an
excavate zone between the cubital and anal veins; this excavate zone is more
pronounced than in Xyleutes.
The thorax and abdomen are greyish white, spotted and/or banded
regularly in black, the thorax usually with three pairs of spots, a diagnostic
feature for the genus. Another feature is the association of hindwing vein Sc
with the cell (Fig. 4).
Figure 4. Venation of Zeuzera lineata
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The male genitalia, especially the apical ornamentation of the aedeagus, are similar to those of Xyleutes. The worldwide diversity of the
latter and the great variety in wing facies of the species suggests that Zeuzera
may well be merely a well-defined section of Xyleutes rather than the
sister-genus; Xyleutes as constituted at present would then be
paraphyletic.
The facies characters of the wings and thorax mentioned above would
restrict application of the generic name to Holarctic and Indo-Australian taxa,
excluding the few New World species such as ramosa Schaus and comisteon
Schaus that have been included in the genus in the past but are now placed
in Hamilcara Barnes & McDunnough.
The larva appears to be distinguished from those of Xyleutes by a
much narrower zone of rugosity on the posterior of the pronotum and a fivefold
lobing of its anterior margin (Gardner 1945). Gardner was only able to examine
two species of Xyleutes, ceramica and persona.
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