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Microcalicha Sato
Type species: fumosaria Leech, Japan, China, Taiwan.
Sato (1981) defined this genus in relation to Calicha Moore. It
differs in having a highly developed tongue and a larger hair pencil on the male
hind tibia.
The facies tends to be dark brown, with paler patches at the tornus of
both wings, at the apex of the forewing, and often broadly through its central
zone too. The postmedial of the forewing is sometimes rather sinuous, almost
looped subapically. A setal comb is present on male sternite 3.
The male genitalia of the species included by Sato exhibit a variety of
structures. The cucullus tends to be broad, the aedeagus small, with a single
cornutus. The type species and M. mimima Warren
have a
characteristic curved spine associated with the sacculus. M. sordida Butler
(Japan, Korea) lacks this feature but has a lobe with setal spines arising from
the interior of the costa subbasally and directed towards the sacculus. M.
melanosticta Hampson comb. n. (China) has similar facies and genitalic
features to sordida and is therefore associated with it here.
The female genitalia usually have the ovipositor relatively large,
blunt, with only the tergite strong in segment 8. The lamella postvaginalis is
arcuate, convex distad. The ductus is short, and there is often a slight
appendix bursae at the base of the long, slender, often corrugate basal part of
the bursa. The distal bulb is usually pyriform and contains a bidentate signum,
the teeth directed distally.
The larval characteristics are comparable to those of Calicha (Sato):
all three species included by him have been reared from plant genera in the
Celastraceae, but M. minima is also known from Boraginaceae.
In addition to the species included by Sato, two further Bornean species
are placed tentatively in this genus, together with closely related taxa.
Reasons are given under each.
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