Hypercodia Hampson
Type species: disparalis Walker, Borneo.
The forewings are
medium rufous brown anteriorly for about three‑quarters of their area,
this terminating at a sharp, sinuous boundary that runs from the dorsum at
about two‑thirds; this boundary is very gently curved convex distad and
runs towards the apex until it reaches the discal area, where it curves round
to run obliquely basad to meet the costa at about three‑quarters. The
zone distal to this boundary is a paler brown, grading almost white towards the
dorsum. There is a series of shallow black triangles on the margin, their
apices resting on the veins. The hindwing is a uniform, medium,
brownish grey above, and paler than the forewing below, with rufous shading,
particularly concentrated in a discal lunule and a curved, broken postmedial.
The labial palps are directed forwards to twice the length of the head. The
male antennae are ciliate.
The male abdomen
has the eighth segment unusually modified as illustrated; neither tergite nor
sternite conform with the framed corematous groundplan. The genitalia have a
long, very slender, curved uncus. The tegumen is broad with a peniculus‑like
development ventrally on each side. The vinculum has no definite saccus, but
swells on each side at the central meeting point, where there is a narrow
vertical suture. The valves are tongue‑like, somewhat splayed as in other
Eustrotiinae, but are generally sclerotised, with a saccular thickening that
tapers away distad asymptotically along the ventral margin, terminating in a
slender spine at the very apex of the valve. The aedeagus vesica contains a
large cornutus shaped somewhat like a coat‑hook.
The female
genitalia show features that suggest placement with the core Deltote
group of Eustrotiinae, such as insertion of the slender ductus bursae
subbasally into the corpus bursae, this insertion being well separated from the
exit of the ductus seminalis at the basal end. The corpus bursae is elongate‑ovate,
and scobinate over the central two‑thirds.
Poole (1989)
listed three further species in the genus, two of which were originally
described in it (rubritincta Wileman & South from Taiwan and wheeleri Pinhey from Africa) and one was transferred to it by
Poole (umbrimedia Hampson, N.E. Himalaya). These all appear to be
unrelated; the illustration of the valve of the male genitalia in the original
description of wheeleri is suggestive of Maliattha.
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