::The Moths of Borneo::

SUBFAMILY ACONTIINAE

Acontia Ochsenheimer

Type species: solaris [Denis & Schifferm�ller], Austria, = lucida Hufnagel.

�� Synonyms: Acontarache Berio (type species somaliensis Berio, Somalia); Acropserotarache Berio (type species elegantissima Berio, Somalia); Agrophila Boisduval (type species sulphuralis Linnaeus = trabealis Scopoli, Europe); Aulotarache Hampson (type species decoripennis Mabille, E. Africa); Cardiosace Hampson (type species sphendonistis Hampson, S. Africa); Conacontia Smith (type species flavicosta Smith, U.S.A.); Conochares Smith (type species acutus Smith, U.S.A.); Desmophora Stephens (type species catena Sowerby, U.K., = nitidula Fabricius); Emmelacontia Beck (type species viridisquama Guen�e, Spain); Emmelia H�bner (type species sulphuralis = trabealis); Erotyla H�bner (type species sulphuralis = trabealis); Eugraphia Guen�e (type species irretita H�bner, Brazil); Euphasia Stephens (type species catena); Eusceptis H�bner (type species irretita); Fredina Brandt (type species esmeralda Brandt, Iran); Fruva Grote (type species fasciatella Grote, U.S.A.); Graeperia Grote (type species magnifica Neumogen, U.S.A.); Heliodora Neumogen (type species magnifica); Heliothera Sodoffsky (unnecessary replacement name for Acontia); Hemispragueia Barnes & Benjamin (type species idella Barnes, U.S.A.);� Hoplotarache Hampson (type species mionides Hampson, S. Africa);� Metapioplasta Wallengren (type species simo Wallengren, S. Africa);� Neptunia Barnes & McDunnough (type species pulchra Barnes & McDunnough, U.S.A.), praeocc.; Olivacontia Hacker, Legrain & Fibiger (type species olivacea Hampson, see below); Ponometia Herrich-Sch�ffer (type species ochricosta Herrich-Sch�ffer, Cuba); Porrotha Gistl (unnecessary replacement name for Acontia); Procriosis Hampson (type species dileuca Hampson, Kenya); Pseudalypia Edwards (type species crotchii Edwards, U.S.A.);� Spragueia� Grote (type species leo Guen�e, N. America); Tarache H�bner (type species aprica H�bner, Europe); Tarachidia Hampson (type species flavibasis Hampson, Lesser Antilles); Therasea Grote (type species angustipennis Grote, U.S.A.); Tima Walker (type species margaritata Drury, Africa) praeocc.; Tornacontia Smith (type species sutrix Grote, U.S.A.); Trichotarache Grote (type species assimilis Grote, U.S.A.); Uniptena Nye (type species pulchra, replacement name for Neptunia, syn. n.); Uracontia Beck (type species urania Frivaldsky = titania Esper, Ponto-Mediterranean).

�� The genus effectively represents the tribe Acontiini as noted in the subfamily account, where the key diagnostic features recognised by Hacker et al. (2008) are listed. These authors provide a comprehensive description of the genus with further features of the tympanal structure, of the male and female genitalia and of the larvae that are also characteristic of the wider subfamily (see above). The tympanum has an enlarged alula forming a flap partially covering the tympanic opening, and the counter-tympanal hood is reduced or absent.

�� The male abdomen has the eighth segment of the framed corematous type, usually with two prominent coremata on the sternite. The valves of the genitalia often show bilateral asymmetry, both in costal ornamentation and in the processes from the sacculus. The aedeagus vesica is variously ornamented with cornuti and clusters of spines as well as general scobination.

�� The female genitalia have several features already mentioned. The corpus bursae may have a zone of scobination extending distally from the basal sclerotisation, sometimes to the apex, but signa are not recorded.

�� The larvae have posteriorly projecting D2 setae on A9, forming an anal fork (Crumb, 1956). There is some concentration of host records in the Malvales (Robinson et al., 2001).

�� The definition of the genus adopted by Hacker et al. (2008) has resulted in much generic synonymy as listed above, with the addition of Uniptena Nye which was overlooked, given that Neptunia Barnes & McDunnough was included (see Nye, 1975). The genus is diverse in both Old (174 species) and New Worlds, with a concentration of diversity in semi-arid regions with savannah and Mediterranean habitats. Thus the greatest Old World diversity is in Eastern and Southern Africa where about two-thirds of the Old World species occur. The Indo-Australian representation is much more modest with only about 20 species in the Indian Subregion, 8 in Australia and rarely more than two or three in any area from Sundaland to New Guinea.

�� Hacker et al. (2008) recognised and defined seven subgenera. Most are restricted to the Old World, including subgenus Acontia, one of the two largest. The other large subgenus, Emmelia, is diverse in the New World as well, whilst Eusceptis is restricted to the New World. Acontia is primarily African but extends through the Arabian Peninsula to the Indian Subregion. Emmelia extends to Australia and contributes one of the two Bornean species. The other is a member of the only exclusively Indo-Australian subgenus, Olivacontia. The other subgenera are small, with Metapioplasta distributed around the west of the Indian Ocean, reaching the Seychelles and Sri Lanka, Uracontia extending to the Mediterranean and Central Asia, and Acontarache having two species in Africa.

�� Emmelia species have valves in the male genitalia that are generally broad, widening to the apex. The processes from the interior of the sacculus (the clasper‑harpe / ampulla system of Hacker et al.) are elongated in a direction parallel to the ventral margin of the valve, though this is seen only weakly in the Bornean species and is not strong in the rest of the transfigurata Wallengren group to which it belongs. This group contains two species in Southern Africa, including transfigurata (also Madagascar), but the rest are found in the Indo‑Australian area: Australia (elaeoa Hampson, nivipicta Butler (also New Guinea and New Caledonia), thapsina Turner); Lombok (buchsbaumi Hacker, Legrain & Fibiger, detritoides Hacker, Legrain & Fibiger); Timor and possibly Sulawesi (gagites Warren; the two syntypes from the former locality and a series from the latter locality are in BMNH); the Indian Subregion (sexpunctata Hampson, semipallida Warren, burmana Swinhoe); the sister‑pair marmoralis Fabricius and wallaceana Hacker, Legrain & Fibiger, discussed below. The facies of gagites (Hacker et al., 2008: 272; original illustration only examined) also indicates a general relationship to marmoralis and wallaceana except that the shaded zone associated with the postmedial extends to the distal margin, the stigmata are weak, and there is a distinctive, right-angled antemedial band in medium‑pale brown. The male genitalia of typical gagites (slide 21608) indicate that the species is most closely related to detritoides, sharing reduction of the coremata of the eighth sternite, a relatively (compared to marmoralis and wallaceana) distal position of the spur on the costa of the right valve, and general similarity in the structure and asymmetry of the sacculus (the left sacculus is distally more cashew-shaped than in marmoralis and wallaceana) and its processes. The aedeagus vesica has a strong basal cornutus that is weak in marmoralis and absent in wallaceana. A male dissected (slide 21607) from the Sulawesi series with comparable facies was also similar but lacked the clump of spines adjacent to the basal cornutus in the vesica of gagites and had the curved spines of the processes just distal to the sacculus very much reduced; the status of the Sulawesi population requires further study.

�� Olivacontia is defined extensively on characters of loss: of the coremata of the male eighth abdominal segment; of valve ornamentation and asymmetry; of sclerotisation of the female ductus and corpus bursae. However, the general scobination of the rather globular aedeagus vesica and the granular to scobinate zone over the central part of the corpus bursae (rather than spining from the basal part) may also be definitive. All the species in the group are discussed below.

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