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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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