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Bamra Moore
Type
species discalis Moore
= albicola
Walker.
All
species share a black, grey and white facies, the forewings extensively
fasciated and marbled, and the hindwings white with grey borders, often
extending inwards on the veins. The male antennae are fasciculate, and the legs,
particularly the tibia, may be tufted. The labial palps are of the catocaline
type but relatively short. The clypeofrons is scaleless centrally but this area
is partially obscured by scales from each side, leaving a vertical strip
uncovered.
The male
abdomen of the type species has the eighth segment only slightly modified. There
are short apodemes on the tergite, and the distal margin of the sternite is very
slightly notched. The genitalia have the uncus complex, apically trifid, and
with a slender spine more basally. The valves have a massive, irregularly lobed
process that traverses them from the apex of the sacculus to near the base of
the costa. The portion of the valve distal to this is ovate and finely crinkled
transversely. The juxta is of the inverted ‘V’ type but broadens
considerably on each side just dorsal to the junction with the sacculus. The
aedeagus vesica has a slender diverticulum without ornament, with the broad
ductus ejaculatorius arising basally from it when everted.
In the
female, the ovipositor lobes are unusually kidney-shaped and invested with a
variety of setal types, varying in robustness and length, these being segregated
to some extent in patches of the same type on the distal part of each lobe. The
eighth segment is very short as, to a lesser degree, is the seventh. The ostium
is situated at the posterior of the seventh sternite, and is flanked in the type
species by a pair of small semicircular lobes from the margin of the sternite,
with another shallower one posteriorly. The ductus is sclerotised to the point
where the ductus seminalis arises, and then a more membranous, corrugated tube
extends over a longer section to an irregularly shaped and densely scobinate
corpus bursae. The ductus is much shorter and unsclerotised in the Indian B. mundata Walker.
Gardner (1947) described the larva of the Indian
species, B. mundata Walker.
The head is granulate. The prolegs of A3 are strongly reduced. The developed
ones bear four external setae as in the Erebini, Hypopyrini and Thalatta
Walker.
A8 is tumid dorsally, with the setae on rounded tubercles. The colour is dull
brownish grey or green, sometimes with dark mottling. The more dorsal setae
usually arise from reddish spots. Hampson (1893: 109) noted a pair of yellowish
spots on each segment flanking a narrow dorsal band. He stated that the larva
spins a small, pale cocoon amongst grass and dead leaves, and, when preparing to
pupate, secretes a whitish powder from the ventral area. The host plants are Albizia
and
(Robinson et al., 2001) Arachis in the Leguminosae.
There
are several species in Africa and mainland Asia (Poole, 1989), but only the type
species extends into Sundaland.
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