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Hemithea
Duponchel
Type species: aestivaria
Hübner, Palaearctic.
Synonym: Lophocrita Warren
(type species undifera Walker); Mixolophia Warren (type species ochrolauta
Warren).
This genus, along with
the next two and the Australasian Metallochlora Warren and Urolitha Warren,
share unusual features of male and female genitalia: the ornamentation of the
valve arises from the ventral interior and extends towards the base in a
central, longitudinal declivity; there is a zone of setae on the lamella
postvaginalis, often in a shallow pocket, just distal to the ostium. The bursa
is usually small, immaculate, set on a short ductus. The genera are
distinguished from each other on variation on this theme and facies features.
Hemithea species resemble those of Maxates
Moore in having dentate
white fasciae, often with the green colour deepened adjacent to them. The
fasciae tend to be more broken, irregular, than in Maxates, and the wing
margins are often reddish, slightly chequered with paler cilia in the spaces.
The margins are crenulate, that of the hindwing with a central angle. The male
antennae are ciliate (bipectinate in Maxates). There are setal patches on
the third sternite.
In the male genitalia
the valves are rather deep, the costa often rather bowed but never with acute
processes or spurs. The most distal of the valve processes is often less
sclerotised, more setose, and extends basad over the costal zone of the valve.
The larva is typical of
the Hemitheiti in posture, slender build and bifid head capsule. Those of
several Bornean species are described below and some are illustrated in Sugi
(1987). There is a strong tendency towards flower-feeding. The type species has
been recorded from a wide range of plant families (Nakajima & Sato, 1979):
Araliaceae, Betulaceae, Caprifoliaceae, Ericaceae, Fagaceae,
Juglandaceae,
Moraceae, Oleaceae, Pinaceae, Rosaceae, Rutaceae, Salicaceae and Theaceae.
The genus is diverse in
the Indo-Australian tropics and extends also into temperate latitudes. There are
no tropical African representatives. Three species were transferred into Hemithea
from Episothalma
Swinhoe. There are ten species in Borneo.
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