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Pseudonirmides Gen.
n.
Type species: sola Swinhoe.
In wing shape and facies this genus resembles Nirmides to some extent but
the forewing apices are slightly more produced. The facies of the fore-wing is
uniform but there is a dark submarginal similar to that in Nirmides and
in the type species, sola, a slightly darker basal triangle that extends
somewhat more distad than in Nirmides.
The male antennae are broadly bipectinate to just short of one half. The
palps are slightly upcurved, the third segment conspicuous, a quarter the length
of the second. The wing venation is similar to that of Nirmides.
The male genitalia are less highly modified than in Nirmides but
have several distinctive features. The gnathus is flattened, relatively broad,
apically bilobed. The valves have a diagnostic spine arising from the sacculus
and running adjacent to the ventral margin of the valve approximately to the
apex. The aedeagus is short, flexed almost at right angles and is inserted
ventrally to a prominent central spine-like process, the morphological origin of
which is at present unclear. The eighth tergite has its distal margin
sclerotised and is, in sola, bilobed
A female tentatively associated with sola (slide 766) has the
bursa unornamented except for very fine sparse scobination and the ductus
straight. The anterior margin of the eighth sternite is somewhat more heavily
sclerotised and scobinate than the rest, and the apophyses are unusually
doubled.
The type species has two other congeners, one an undescribed reddish
brown species (slide 881) from Sulawesi, and the other a species from Nepal,
externally similar to sola but with different male genitalia. This latter
may be N. cuprea Moore (see Nirmides) but the type of this taxon
has not been examined. The probable larva and cocoon of the type species of Pseudonirmides
is described in the specific account.
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