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Lophoptera Guenée
Type species: squammigera Guenée.
Synonyms (and type species): Ciasa Walker (pustulifera Walker);
Evia Walker (ferrinalis Walker); Sadarsa Moore (longipennis
Moore) syn. n.
This genus is taken here to include a very wide range of species (46 in
Borneo) united by the character of equal development of bursa and appendix
bursae in the female genitalia; the former has an elongate signum with small,
distally directed spines and the latter usually contains a series of parallel
bands of fine scobination. By the two main criteria Odontodes could be
regarded as just another subgroup of Lophoptera, albeit an early offshoot
with the ‘A’ subgroups below. It lacks scobinate bands in the appendix
bursae which are present in A3 and A4 but not A1 and A2. Odontodes is
therefore treated separately here until a more exact placement can be determined
by further morphological studies, especially of Lophoptera group A4, and
the discovery of males of the single species in group A2.
The majority of Lophoptera have a horn-like invagination
posterior to the ostium bursae of the female. A high proportion of these also
have a pair of setose lobes laterally to the ostium and post-ostial invagination.
One group has lateral lobes without the invagination.
There is great variety in wing pattern and in characters of male
genitalia, but the forewings are usually relatively deep compared with other
genera, and the patterns are often colourful. The build is generally slender.
The valves of the male genitalia are entire rather than bifid, usually with
sub-basal lobes or processes on the costa, sometimes with a harpe.
Numerous subgroups and sections can be recognised (Bornean species only
listed):
A. Groups without post-ostial invagination or lateral lobes in the
female genitalia.
A1. L. tripartita Swinhoe, L. paranthyala Holland. Pale
antemedials and postmedials cross the forewing obliquely, and there is a
subapical yellow bar at the costa on the underside. The apex of the uncus in the
male genitalia is upfurled, the valves slender with a well-developed curved
costal process that arises basally.
A2. L. cinnamona sp. n. The appendix bursae is weak relative to
the bursa; the male is unknown.
A3. (Ciasa Walker) L. pustulifera Walker. The male valve
has a simple lobe at the base of the costa. The forewing pattern is reminiscent
of that of Diascoides species.
A4. L. purpurascens Bethune-Baker, L. astriata Holloway.
The forewings are narrow with distinctive purple and brown facies. The male
genitalia have massive valves, distinctively modified, and have a long basal
process to the juxta. The female lamellae vaginalis are also distinctively
modified.
B. Groups with a post-ostial invagination but no lateral lobes.
B1. (Evia Walker) L. ferrinalis Walker, L. leucostriga Hampson,
L. coangulata Warren, L. transpallida Holloway, L. stipata Walker,
L. torrens Warren, L. illucida Walker, L. belli sp. n., L.
denticulata Walker. These species mostly have slender valves in the male
genitalia. The forewings are usually colourful with the submarginal expanded
centrally into a white lenticular mark.
B2. L. olivascens Moore. The forewings are narrow as in the next
group but are pale brown rather than dark indigo or bluish brown. The valves of
the male genitalia are slender as in that group but with the costal process
separate rather than fused.
B3. L. punctapex Holloway, L. obscurapex sp. n., L.
tenuis Moore. The valves of the male genitalia are slender with the costal
process fused to the main part, the latter articulating at the more or less
central point where the costal process terminates.
B4. (Sadarsa Moore) L. longipennis Moore. The species is
sexually dimorphic, the female resembling L. tenuis (B3) in forewing facies; the male has very elongate, apically produced forewings. The male
genitalia are not slender as in B3, are most robust and have the costal process
separate from the valve.
B5. L. pallibasis Holloway, L. purpuribasis sp. n., L.
submarginata sp. n. The male genitalia have the valves as in B3 but the
forewings are only slightly narrower than in the majority of species and the
markings tend towards those of group D5. The apophyses of segment 8 in the
female are apically expanded.
B6. L. nama Swinhoe, L. brunnama sp. n. The body is
slender, the forewings apically produced and bearing an apical chevron of pale
yellow. The valves of the male genitalia are slender with a costal process half
their length adpressed.
B7. L. flavina Warren. The brown forewings and pale yellow base
to the hindwings are distinctive, the latter a unique character within the
genus. The valves of the male genitalia have a cucullus-like apex, a subcostal
comb of long setae and a small basal harpe.
B8. L. quadrinotata Walker, L. parallelnotata sp. n. The
forewings are traversed by strong post- and antemedials, the former often
invested with mauvish grey. The post-ostial invagination is broad, flexible. The
male genitalia have the uncus short, the tegumen and saccus strong, broad, and
the valves very slender.
C. There is no post-ostial invagination but lateral lobes or flaps are
present.
Cl. L. phaeobasis Hampson, L. negretinoides sp. n. The
forewing is striate greenish grey with a dark zone basally. The male genitalia
have the valves entire without basal or costal processes, and the uncus is short
and thick.
D. Both the post-ostial invagination and lateral lobes are present.
D1. L. squammigera Guenée, L. lineigera sp. n., L.
squammilinea sp. n., L. smaragdivirgatus sp. n., L. smaragdipanni sp.
n. These are moderate to large species, the maroon-brown forewings with a series
of oblique, irregular, broken fasciae in the submarginal zone and a central,
glossy, white or green streak that often grades away dorsad. The male genitalia
have no striking features in common to confirm the grouping of the first three
with the last two.
D2. L. huma Swinhoe. The post-ostial invagination is short,
triangular, and the lateral lobes are small semicircular flaps. The male has a
basally swollen uncus, a costal process almost as long as the valve, and a
small, centrally placed harpe.
D3. L. khasiana Warren, L. chalybea Walker, L.
polygrapha Walker, L. gadirthoides sp. n. These four species are the
largest in the genus, having rather narrow forewings with yellow or brown
subapical marks akin to those in L. punctapex (B3). The lateral lobes of
the female genitalia are elongate, directed posteriorly. The male valves are
simple, more or less rectangular.
D4. L. obliquilinea Prout. The forewing facies is distinctive and
the female has an extra pair of lobes on the lamella vaginalis. The male is
unknown.
D5. L. brunnistis sp. n., L. partitistis sp. n., The
male genitalia have the uncus-apex scrolled downwards; the valves are
rectangular with two subbasal lobes interiorly; there are two slender coremata
on each side between abdominal segments 7 and 8.
D6. L. univalva sp. n. The uncus is very deep, the valves simple,
tapering in the male genitalia; there is a pair of lateral coremata between
abdominal segments 7 and 8, much broader than the double pair in D5. The
forewing is rather uniformly dark brown with a straight, somewhat oblique, pale
postmedial.
D7. L. trilobuncus sp. n. The forewing patterning is as in group
D5 but there are longitudinal hyaline patches at the base of the hindwing. The
uncus of the male genitalia has lateral setose lobes, and the valves are deep,
rather quadrate. The post-ostial invagination and the lateral lobes of the
female are rather broad, weak, shallow.
D8. L. acuda Swinhoe, L. dialeuca Hampson. In acuda the
forewings are brown, marked with pale yellow, especially a diagnostic subtornal
triangle. The valves of the male genitalia are narrow, parallel-sided, with a
small bilobed basal harpe. The genitalia are generally similar in dialeuca but
the forewing has a longitudinally banded pattern with no subtornal triangle.
Unassigned. L. purpuriridis sp. n. This species is known only
from males and therefore cannot be placed in this classification.
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