TRIBE SCOPULINI
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Scopula Schrank

Type species: paludata Linnaeus, Europe.

Synonyms: Acidalia Treitschke (type species strigaria Hübner, Europe) praeocc., replaced by Cymatida Sodoffsky; Acidalina Staudinger (type species decolor Staudinger, Algeria); Calothysanis Hübner (type species imitaria Hübner, Europe); Chlorocraspedia Warren (type species ansorgei Warren, Uganda); Craspedia Hübner (type species ornata Scopoli, Europe); Dosithea Duponchel (type species ornata); Eucidalia Sterneck (type species immorata Linnaeus, Europe); Induna Warren (type species rufisalsa Warren, S. Africa); Lipocentris Warren (type species umbelaria Hübner, Europe); Lipocentris Warren (type species rubriceps Warren, Angola); Longula Staudinger (type species ext raordinaria Staudinger, Lebanon); Lycauges Butler (type species lactea Butler, Japan); Phyletis Guenée (type species silonaria Guenée, Ethiopia); Psilephyra Bastelberger (type species bilineata Bastelberger, Tanzania); Pleionocentra Warren (type species plionocentra Prout, Nigeria); Runeca Moore (type species ferrilineata Moore, India); Synelys Hulst (type species enucleata Guenée, N. America); Trichoclada Meyrick (type species epigypsa Meyrick, Fiji); Ustocidalia Sterneck (type species adelpharia Püngeler, Israel).

No attempt has been made to verify that all the synonyms listed accord with the generic definition that follows. The genus contains several hundred species that mostly conform to the obliquely fasciated straw facies with black discal spots and other black flecks on the veins within the fasciae that is seen in the majority of Bornean species. The male antennae are usually densely ciliate, sometimes narrowly bipectinate, and the hind-tibia has a hair pencil.

The genus can be defined clearly on features of the male abdomen; the capsule is ovate with a broad saccus; the tegumen bears two socii, often long and slender, bearing setae, that flank the anal tube; the valves are divided into two spines, one setose, the other darkly sclerotised; the eighth sternite has cerata, often asymmetrically developed, as can more rarely be the valves of the genitalia.

The female has a typical Scopulini signum in the bursa copulatrix. The sterigma is variably ornamented, often with the ostium narrow and strongly sclerotised within a setose ring-like structure formed from the surrounding lamellae. The ovipositor lobes are often produced in a dentate manner at their ventral angle, reminiscent of the bilobed condition seen in the Sterrhini.

The larva is usually long, slender, tapering gently anteriorly, green or brown, usually with longitudinal lineation, occasionally more variegated (illustrations in Sugi (1987)). The resting posture is stick-like, the body held straight, at 45 degrees.

The pupal cremaster has been described in the tribal account on Scopulini. The development of the minor shaftlets relative to the enlarged terminal pair appears to vary (Bell, MS).

The genus includes species of both forested and open habitats, the latter adaptation leading to its success at higher latitudes. Host-plant records reflect this, including both woody and herbaceous taxa, e.g. for the Indo-Australian tropics and subtropics (Sevastopulo, 1941, 1943; Singh, 1957; Yunus & Ho, 1980; Murphy, 1990; Bell, MS; unpublished IIE records): Acanthaceae; Deringia (Amaranthaceae); Begonia (Begoniaceae); Lumnitzera (Combretaceae); Cucumis (Cucurbitaceae); Oryza, Zea (Gramineae); Aeschynomene, Mimosa, Phaseolus, Vigna (Leguminosae); Jasminum (Oleaceae); Lantana (Verbenaceae). A number of species have been recorded imbibing the lachrymal secretions and body fluids of large mammals in S.E. Asia (Bänziger & Fletcher, 1985).

The distribution is virtually cosmopolitan. The genus is the only member of the Sterrhinae to extend into Polynesia, with endemic species on the Marquesas (Holloway, 1983), and it is the only genus to reach New Zealand (Dugdale, 1988).

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