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Eupithecia Curtis
Type species: absinthiata Clerck, Europe.
Synonyms: as listed by McDunnough (1949), Inoue (1979-1980, 1988),
Ferguson in Hodges et al. (1983) and Rindge (1987).
Eupithecia is probably the largest genus in the Geometridae and virtually
cosmopolitan. The current species total may be in the region of a thousand. Its
diversity in the Indo-Australian tropics is relatively low, and a high
proportion of the species that do occur there are morphologically rather
distinct from the typically Holarctic bulk of the genus.
The species are usually small, brownish to grey with regularly fasciated
forewings, and hindwings that are more weakly fasciated, at least over the
anterior half. The forewing discal spot is conspicuous, black, and the pale
submarginal is often somewhat expanded near the dorsum to give a more
conspicuous whitish mark.
In the male abdomen octavals are often present, usually running the
length of the sternite when they occur, and tending to be closer together or
even fused compared with Chloroclystis Hübner and allies. The uncus is
small, acute. The labides are pronounced. The valves are usually simple,
sometimes with an expanded saccular area. The aedeagus often has several large
cornuti in the vesica.
The female genitalia have the bursa copulatrix more or less full of
coarse scobination.
The larvae are variable in shape, tending towards robustness, and also
show a range of largely cryptic patterning, mostly of green and brown. Dietary
range is wide, and flower and bud feeding predominates (Allan, 1949; Sugi,
1987).
The first three Bornean species treated below are more or less typical
of the genus, but the rest are increasingly divergent and may eventually merit
separation into distinct genera. However, most were retained in Eupithecia by
Inoue (1988).
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