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Odonestis Germar
Type species: pruni Linnaeus.
This genus was reviewed by Tams (1935).
The venation of the forewing is typical. The hindwing has a weak humeral
vein as in the previous two genera. The general colour is red. The
forewing has two strong transverse fasciae, between them a white discal
spot, and there is usually a weak, irregular submarginal.
The male genitalia are diagnostic. The eighth sternite is modified into a
strongly sclerotised 'H' shape with a long, slender, often apically
bifurcate process arising from the bar of the 'H' and directed posteriorly.
There is no cubile
but a long, slender saccus. The valve is divided, with a long, upcurved
dorsal arm and a short, more setose ventral one. The uncus is bifid or
absent, with a lateral pair of setose processes on the tegumen. The
aedeagus is short, with a long terminal ventral spur; there is one zone of
scobination in the vesica.
The fully grown larva of pruni has a tuft of long hairs just anterior to
the prothoracic spiracle, otherwise lateral processes are not evident.
Just anterior to the tuft is a dark brown tubercle. The second thoracic
segment bears a transverse rufous band dorsally, with bluish grey
spots at each end. Short secondary setae are sparsely distributed over the
rest of the body, slightly longer in a sublateral fringe. The skin is pale
yellow with obscure, irregular, longitudinal grey streaks on each segment
and more brownish ones laterally; the overall impression is greyish.
Sevastopulo (1946) reared the Indian O. bheroba Moore on Melastoma
(Melastomataceae)
and Rubus (Rosaceae). The head is hairy, blue-black, marked with an
inverted white 'Y'. The body is laterally blackish, dorsally slate grey
with a dark dorsal stripe and streaked white and reddish. T1 is black with
longitudinal orange streaks; there is a lateral white hair-pencil. There
are subdorsal white hair pencils on T2 and T3, segments that have the
dorsum orange-pink. Between A4 and A5 is a pink edged black dorsal patch;
A8 has an orange-brown dorsal hump with fine black hair, and subdorsal
white pencils. There are a few white subdorsal hairs on other abdominal
segments.
Apart from the Palaearctic pruni all species are found in the Oriental
tropics and subtropics. Four species fly in Borneo, and the furthest
species east is a member of the vita Moore complex from Sulawesi.
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