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Ornithospila Warren
Type species: avicularia Guenée.
Synonyms: Afrena Hampson (type species esmeralda Hampson);
Urospila Warren (type species lineata Moore).
Ornithospila species are characteristically bright green with fine transverse fasciae
on the wings and, in most species, red discal spots or larger, more irregular
patches. The marginal cilia may also be red. The male antennae are narrowly
bipectinate to three-quarters, the pectinations numerous and neatly arrayed.
These characters are common to all the generic
names listed above, but in genitalia features typical Ornithospila taxa
differ from those in Afrena and Urospila, though both lack setal
patches on the male third sternite.
In typical Ornithospila the male genitalia have a
number of unusual features: the uncus is strong, flanked by two socii on each
side; the valves are simple, bearing many moderate to long setae, with a series
of very long ones around the distal ventral margin, and a field of shorter ones,
dorsally directed, over the interior lamina of the valve; the saccus is well
developed, though weak coremata are present. The aedeagus is usually slender,
but is shorter, broader, with a cornutus in O. viridimargo Prout (S.
Moluccas) and O. submonstrans Walker. In the other subgenera the socii
are single and there are no conspicuously long setae on the valve margins. The
general setation of the valves and the strong saccus are consistent with
inclusion in Ornithospila.
The female genitalia in typical Ornithospila have
ovipositor lobes of the modified geometrine type, but the signum is an unusual
elliptical zone of scobination. The lamellae vaginales are sometimes sclerotised,
slightly convoluted. In Afrena and Urospila the signum is absent,
and the ductus and bursa much more elongate.
No descriptions of early stages have been located: the only
host-plant record is from the Dipterocarpaceae (see below).
The genus is most diverse in the Oriental tropics,
particularly Sundaland, extending east as far as New Guinea. Most species are
found over an unusually large range of altitude, but are generally commoner in
the lowlands.
Species in subgenus Ornithospila are very similar in
appearance, but can be distinguished readily with experience on the characters
given in the key that follows.
Key to subgenus Ornithospila in
Borneo.
1. Fasciae of wings wavy
............................................................................................................
2
- Fasciae
of wings linear
.............................................................................................................4
2. Wing
fringes mainly red
............................................................................................
avicularia
- Wing fringes mainly white, with a dark line at the margin
........................................................... 3
3. Hindwing
red discal mark punctate; white fringes rarely crossed by red at the veins ..... bipunctata
-
Hindwing red discal mark a chevron; white fringes usually crossed by red
at
the veins.......................................................................................................................
submonstrans
4.
Discal marks red ....................................................................................................
sundaensis
- Discal
marks green .................................................................................................................
5
5. Wing
margins and fringes broadly purplish red; hindwing below uniform
............................. cincta
- Wing
margins narrowly marked with red, fringes whiter, clouded and traversed by red;
hindwing below with broadly darker zone at apex
........................................................................... succincta
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