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Thoyowpongia Gen.
n.
Type species: nigrodiscus sp. n.
The antennae are filiform, finely and evenly ciliate. Forewing veins R1
and R2 have a common stalk, arising independently from Rs at the cell: R1
anastomoses with Sc over a short distance after diverging from R2. There is no
fovea. The forewing margin is angled at M3, that of the hindwing generally
crenulate. The facies of the wings consists of a dense mottling and striation of
blackish grey on a pale yellow ground, with some rufous tints, especially just
posterior to the discai spots. These are large, black, that of the hindwing
twice the area of that of the forewing, its scales somewhat raised towards the
centre. On the underside the discal spots are inconspicuous. The female (a
single specimen from Peninsular Malaysia) has the wing margins more weakly
angled.
The abdomen has a setal comb on sternite 3 and a tuft of black scales
associated with the genitalia beyond a pale terminal segment. The genitalia have
a number of distinctive features. Both uncus and gnathus are broadly bifid. The
valves lack a cucullus, but the costa gives rise to a large triangular process,
the distal side concave, the angles at each end of this side acute, the ventral
one terminating in a spine. The aedeagus is short, stout, with a small,
unornamented vesica.
The female genitalia have a spherical bursa with a tubular neck that is
basally sclerotised, scobinate. There is no signum. The ductus is short, rather
funnel-like. The lamella antevaginalis is rectangular, longitudinally crinkled,
and the lamella postvaginalis is semicircular.
The genus is dedicated to the memory of the late Dr Tho Yow Pong, a
Malaysian entomologist who worked assiduously for the conservation of his native
forests and was a good friend and colleague of the author.
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