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Anomis Hübner
Type
species: exacta Hübner, S. America (Nye, 1975; but given as erosa Hübner by Poole (1989)). Adoption of erosa
would
place Anomis
as
a senior synonym of Cosmophila Boisduval (see p. 235 and Tams (1924a)).
Synonyms
(generic names requiring further assessment in relation to a more restricted
definition of Anomis are placed in square brackets; they are discussed in
the text following): [Alabama Grote (type species argillacea
Hübner,
Brazil)]; Amarna Walker (type species discursa
Walker,
type locality not stated, probably Neotropical (Nye, 1975)); Anomus
Agassiz
(unjustified emendation of Anomis); Capitaria Walker
(type species sublineata Walker, Honduras); Eualabama Grote
(unnecessary replacement name for Alabama);
[Molopa
Swinhoe
(type species planalis Swinhoe, Australia)]; Ristra
Walker
(type species tortuosa Walker, Honduras = illita Guenée);
Scoedisa
Walker
(type species designans Walker, Brazil = picta Sepp).
Typical Anomis
as
traditionally treated (e.g. Poole, 1989) is a very large genus extending
throughout the tropical and warm temperate regions of the world. With related
genera (but see synonymy above and note below on similarity of the male
genitalia with typical Anomis)
such as the monobasic Alabama
Grote,
it is much in need of revision. The larvae are predominantly recorded from hosts
in the Malvales, and many are agricultural pests.
It has
not proved possible to give a clear-cut definition of the genus as a whole, as
characteristics of facies and male and female genitalia are diverse, and
possibly only the facies of the forewing provides a distinctive character that
is generally shared: the postmedial is strongly stepped or looped around the
reniform. However, this feature is more weakly present in several other of the
scoliopterygine genera treated here; in these, the fascia has a generally more
sinuous and irregular course, but is always being displaced somewhat basad
posterior to the reniform.
In the
male abdomen, the eighth sternite is a rather flask-shaped version of the framed
corematous type, the corema being single when developed and sometimes restricted
to a small central area within the frame (e.g. A.
picta Sepp
from S. America). The tergite is vestigial or represented by the sclerotised
strip of the anterior margin; the splayed apodemes of the typical framed
corematous condition are absent. A similar eighth segment is seen in Lineopalpa Guenée. In the genitalia, the scaphium is typical of
the tribe and usually slightly bifid apically. The valves are always simple,
their coremata large. In the type species of Anomis,
the vinculum is well developed, broad, extending well below the bases of the
valves, and being apically concave. The juxta is similar to that of Lineopalpa
and
usually supports a sclerotised anellar base. These features are seen also in the
type species of Alabama,
argillacea
Hübner,
and in picta,
the type species of Scoedisa Walker; these are therefore included in the list of
generic synonyms. In the female genitalia these species have a corrugate corpus
bursae with no definite signum or a slight peak in the scobination, most clearly
defined in Ristra Walker.
In Cosmophila
Boisduval,
Deinopalpus
Holland
and Deremma
Walker,
the vinculum is shorter, more tapering and more narrowly excavate. The juxta
gives rise to a distal furca, and the anellar tube is strongly spined. The
female has a curved spine in the bursa in Cosmophila but
not in the other genera.
In Rusicada
Walker,
the male features are similar to those of Cosmophila but
more robust, the juxta and furca enlarged, and the spining of the anellar tube
generally more complex. In this genus and typical Cosmophila there
may be a strong cornutus or cornuti in the vesica. The vinculum is much reduced
ventral to the valve bases in Rusicada and is not always excavate. The bursa in the female
is corrugate, without a signum.
In Molopa
Swinhoe,
the anellar tube is broad and spined, but there is no furca to the juxta. The
vinculum is as in Cosmophila and allies, and the aedeagus vesica contains several
cornuti. In the female, the corpus bursae is constricted centrally, with the
basal part more strongly corrugate and the distal part with a pair of curved
spines.
Gonitis
Guenée
and Tiridata Walker have elongate, narrow valves that extend
beyond the narrow vinculum, this having no excavation. The valve coremata are
double. The anellar tube may be spined but the juxta lacks a furca, being more
broadly bilobed distally, the bases of the lobes somewhat fused to the interior
of the valves. The females have a somewhat pyriform corpus bursae with (Tiridata)
scobination only in the narrower, more basal part: this is more intense around a
slight invagination.
Typical Anomis
appears
to be diverse in, perhaps restricted to, the New World. Cosmophila
and
allies are perhaps more typical of the Old World, diverse in Africa, but with
the core group of Cosmophila (Tams, 1924) pantropical. Rusicada
is
restricted to the Old World, with its core group Indo-Australian. Gonitis is pantropical. Molopa is
probably restricted to the Australian type species.
Of these
groupings, at least Gonitis and Rusicada appear
well defined, though the latter may be nested within Cosmophila;
the furca provides a synapomorphy for the two together, but there is no clear
synapomorphy for a Cosmophila grouping, apart from for the core group defined by
Tams (1924a) as discussed for the larvae below and on p. 235. Recognition of
these groups as distinct genera may also leave the rest of Anomis
paraphyletic,
and there are certainly other groupings that can be defined within the residue,
such as the pair albipunctula Hampson and cupienda
Swinhoe
discussed below, and various singleton taxa from the region.
Therefore,
most of the groupings noted above are tentatively given full generic status,
with the proviso that a more extensive revision may establish either a harder
definition for Anomis as a whole (perhaps bringing in other genera such as Lineopalpa)
or the existence of a distinct Neotropical Anomis group.
In the case of Cosmophila and Rusicada,
it may prove necessary to readjust the distribution of species between the two
when the African fauna has been studied in greater detail. This may result in
many of the large reddish species being transferred to Rusicada
in
a basal position to the core group discussed here.
The
segregation of the genera Rusicada Walker, Cosmophila
Boisduval
and Tiridata
Walker
as distinct from Anomis and each other is also supported by larval characters
(Gardner (1941, 1947). In Cosmophila, prolegs are absent from A3 and the crochets are
appendiculate as in the Bagisarinae (discussed by Holloway, (1998));
appendiculate crochets in conjunction with absence of the prolegs on A3 are also
noted in the American Anomis species texana
Riley
and impasta
Guenée
by Crumb (1956). In the other two genera and in Alabama Grote
(Crumb, 1956), the only representative of what might be considered typical Anomis
for
which larval details have been located, prolegs are present on A3 but reduced,
and the crochets are normal. All three of these genera have an additional, well
developed paradorsal seta on the more anterior abdominal segment (Gardner,
1947), though this is also seen in Scoliopteryx (Crumb, 1956) and may therefore be a
tribal feature.
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