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Idiochlora
Warren
Type species: contracta Warren, N.E. Himalaya
Synonyms: Acrortha Warren (type species flexicosta
Warren, Sri Lanka); Diplodesma Warren (type species celataria Walker,
Sula Is., Sulawesi); Halophanes Warren (type species xanthochlora Swinhoe,
N. India). Prout (1934,Gross-Schmett. Erde 12: 117) included contracta
in his concept of Diplodesma,but did not note Idiochlora as
the oldest generic name, having described Idiochlora Prout, a junior
homonym (see Fletcher, 1979).
This genus is another member of the Hemithea group,
with characteristic valve ornamentation in the male and setae associated with
the ostium in the female. The male antennae are ciliate as in Hemithea and
there are setal patches on the third sternite. The valve has a basal, thorn-like
spur to the costa as in Pamphlebia but also a diagnostic double-lobed
feature forming an angle at
roughly the centre of the valve costa.
The reversed process from the valve sacculus is usually curved, acute, thornlike.
Females examined have a small bursa, short ductus and broad ostial pockets but
setation within the last is often reduced or even absent.
Facies in the genus is variable from Hemithea-like to
partially transparent with a grey-clouded underside or pale green with punctate
black fasciae.
The larvae, like in Hemithea, feed on flowers and
young foliage of a wide range of plants. The larva of the eastern Oriental I.
ussuriaria Bremer is illustrated in Sugi (1987). It is rugose, stick-like,
brown and green as in some Hemithea: it lacks dorsal protruberances on
the abdominal segments. It is noted as feeding on plants in the families
Araliaceae, Fagaceae, Leguminosae, Rosaceae and Theaceae by Nakajima & Sato
(1979).
The genus is diverse in the Oriental tropics, with a few
species extending out to New Guinea and Queensland. The taxon mystica Prout
is misplaced in Idiochiora as discussed in Mystichlora
Gen.n.
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