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Alelimma
Hampson
Type species:
pallidifusca
Hampson
This and the next genus, Globosusa Swinhoe, appear to be closely related, sharing features of facies, though that of the male in Globosusa is strongly modified by secondary sexual characters on the forewing. There are also some resemblances to the eudoxusalis species pair in Mosopia (see above), though these species are larger, more robust, and have the male labial palp modification typical of their genus. These facies similarities are more evident in females.
The male antennae are bipectinate in both genera. The labial palps are slender, upcurved in Alelimma, but elongated forwards, particularly in the second segment, in Globosusa. They are usually rough-scaled. In Alelimma the third segment may be slightly angled forwards. These features are seen also to a slightly lesser extent in the female. The male foretibia of Alelimma lacks a sheath.
The wings are pale ochreous fawn or brownish fawn, with fine, rather broken, crenulate fasciation in darker brown. The discal spots are broken, punctate in most species, but the marks may be fused in the forewing spot in some cases. On the underside, all wings have both reniform and orbicular marks, the orbicular on the hindwing being seen also in the eudoxusalis pair of Mosopia and in the Bertula Walker group of genera (p. 19). Alelimma and Globosusa also share the presence, on the underside, of an extended dark brown mark just subcostally on the forewing between R5 and M1, running through the submarginal fascia to the margin, and being interrupted by the paler central components of the submarginal, which has a double row of dark markings.
In the male abdomen, both genera have the eighth segment unmodified or, in the new Alelimma species below, with a slight framed corematous structure, with short, slender, widely separated apodemes on the tergite. The genitalia of both genera have a saccus that is apically produced, tapering, acute, and valves that lack any significant processes, though in Alelimma the type species has them tongue-like, with a shallow lobe at the base of the costa. The aedeagus vesica is moderate, both in size and in the occurrence of diverticula, and lacks scobination.
In the female genitalia, the type species has the ductus and corpus bursae small, unsclerotised, with two zones of sparse spining longitudinally in the latter. The other Bornean species has very different features as described below. The spining in the bursa is somewhat reminiscent of that in the Simplicia group of genera (p. 20), but is not formed into a horseshoe; the male foreleg does not have a tibial sheath.
Both Oriental taxa with facies typical of the genus are treated in the specific accounts following, Two species listed by Poole (1989) under Alelimma are treated under Hepsidera Swinhoe on p. 60, and two were transferred to Nodaria Guenée by Owada (1994). The Australian odontias Lower is a synonym of Dahlia capnobela Turner (Nielsen et al., 1996). The rest listed by Poole need further study, though apidanusalis Walker is discussed on p. 68.
Swinhoe (1900) included a further Bornean species, Alelimma ferripuncta Walker, originally described as Plusia ferripunctum. This was treated as “Tipasa” ferripunctum by Holloway (2005: 363).
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