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Tathothripa
Hampson
Type
species: continua
Walker, Borneo.
The species have a striking but variable dark blackish brown and white forewing facies. The wings are relatively narrow, the male abdomen elongated, terminating
in a straw-coloured hair pencil. The venation is much as in
Labanda
Walker.
The male abdomen has the apodemes of the basal sternite modified into broadened,
rather bilobed structures but it is not likely that they have a tymbal function,
as those of the female are similar. The eighth segment is elongated, the tergite
with long apodemes, the sternite with prominent scent pencils. The genitalia
have the gnathus and subscaphium as in Labanda Walker; the uncus is
short, the tegumen very long and distinctly swollen on each side where it
articulates with the vinculum, more massively so than in
Ariola
Walker. The valve has a costal field of peg-like structures similar to Ariola,
and the ventral margin has a series of arcuate fields of deciduous hair-setae,
the bases of which are prominent. The apex of the valve is extended into a
flimsy filament. The aedeagus is small, the vesica with a single cornutus.
The female genitalia have a very short, broad ductus that leads into an elongate
but only slightly wider bursa that is longitudinally fluted but lacks a signum.
As well as the widespread species found in Borneo, the genus also includes
T. arcuosa
Bethune-Baker comb. n., endemic to New Guinea.
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