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Loepa
Moore
Type
species: katinka Westwood.
Loepa consists of a number of strikingly patterned, bright yellow Oriental
species. The ocelli are large, particularly that on the forewing, markedly
asymmetric. Fore- and hindwings have a similar series of black fasciae,
irregular, or squarely crenulate, the outermost two closely associated
except subapically on the forewing when the outermost diverges towards the
margin to form a black semicircle within the bounds of the fine, white,
arcuate, submarginal within the confines of the space anterior to vein M1.
The male genitalia have the uncus narrow, apically bifid. The valve is
apically rounded, with a small spur on the ventral margin. The saccus is
well developed.
Nassig (in press, a) presents an account of larvae in the genus. The
dorsal scoli on A8 are not fused but well separate. The larvae are black
or dark reddish with a series of lateral triangular patches of luminous
green or pale yellow. Most host records are from the Vitidaceae, but
Dilleniaceae, Saxifragaceae and Rutaceae are also utilised.
The genus ranges throughout the Oriental Region to as far east as Sulawesi.
The status of the various taxa is still not clear though Roepke (1953)
made some attempt to elucidate the situation, and Holloway (1982: 192)
suggested there were three groups in S.E. Asia that could be defined on
features of the valve of the male genitalia (Figs. 135-138), supported by
observations on the form of the forewing subbasal.
There may be distinct species in Sulawesi and Luzon:
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