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The
family-group name was originally published by Wiltshire (1990), but without
formal description. It is therefore a nomen nudum (Kühne
& Speidel, 2004; Speidel & Naumann, 2005), and is established formally
here to comprise the genera listed below and Marcipa Walker,
a large African genus reviewed by Pelletier (1978), who also placed a number of
species in a new genus, Marcipalina Pelletier. The group as a whole is most diverse in
Africa
and much in need of revision, a task beyond the scope of the current study. The
genus Anoba Walker
includes African taxa such as A. biangulata Walker
, where
both sexes have facies similar to males of Crithote Walker,
and males have scale tufts on the legs reminiscent of that genus, and others
such as A.
phaeotermesia Hampson where both sexes resemble females of Crithote.
The Bornean species of Anoba belong to a group (see below) with forewing facies very close to
that of the monobasic genus Tephriopis Hampson. The male eighth segment is of
the framed corematous type.
Fibiger
(2003) placed Tephriopis Hampson in his concept of the Catocalinae and Anoba
and
Crithote
Walker
in his concept of the Calpinae.
The
tribe is defined by several features of adult morphology that, taken together,
provide a reliable diagnosis for it. The male antennae are usually biserrate or
bipectinate. The forewings are triangular, but often with a rather sinuous
distal margin running back from a slightly falcate apex. The wing fasciation is
irregular but usually involves blocks of black along the costa and at the
dorsum, the latter often large and adjoining the antemedial and postmedial. The
largest marks in the costal zone tend to be towards the apex. The forewing
dorsum often bears scale tufts where the antemedial and postmedial fasciae
coincide with it. The male abdomen has an eighth segment of the framed
corematous type. The male genitalia have a distinctive valve structure, usually
with broad, thickened zones with processes along both costal and saccular
margins, usually having only a narrow, more membranous strip in between. The
uncus is variously modified, sometimes angled, expanded or with some sort of
dorsal peak. The juxta is variously formed, tending to be more plate-like than
of the inverted ‘V’ type. The aedeagus vesica usually has several
diverticula that may bear one or more moderately sized but relatively slender
cornuti. In the female genitalia, the ostium is between the seventh and eighth
segments, usually adjacent to the anterior margin of the latter despite distinct
reduction in the length of the sternite of the former. The ductus bursae is
usually well developed, sclerotised, and the corpus bursae often has extensive
areas of spining, though this can be not much more than strong scobination. The
lamella antevaginalis can be well developed in Marcipa (Pelletier,
1978).
The
larvae of all three groups represented in Borneo
are known, and all have lost the prolegs on A3 and have those on A4 reduced.
All feed on Leguminosae. The pupa of one group was noted (Bell, MS) to have a slight waxy bloom, but not that of the other two.
The
genus Plecoptera
Guenée
is also tentatively included for reasons given on p. 281.
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