FAMILY BOMBYCIDAE
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Penicillifera Dierl

Type species: apicalis Walker.

This genus is defined by the presence of a penicillium, a pouched mass of fine hairs, associated with the genitalia of both sexes: the broadened saccus of the male and the eighth segment of the female, the ductus opening into the distal end of the pouch. In the male the uncus is bifid, the eighth tergite is modified into a slender three-armed structure, and the sternite is broad with a submarginal multidentate flange distally, the rounded teeth directed anteriorly.


Roepke (1924) described the larva of the type species as milky white and grey in later instars, yellowish grey-brown when younger. In form it appears similar to others in the Ocinara group.


The type species is the most widespread. Other species are restricted to the Himalaya (lactea Hutton), Sumatra (infuscata Dierl) and Borneo (purpurascens Holloway).

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