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Maxates Moore
Type species: coelataria
Walker.
Synonyms: Gelasma Warren
(type species thetydaria Guenée) syn. n.; Thalerura Warren (type
species prasina Warren, Bhutan) syn. n.
This synonymy brings
together taxa with similar strong hindwing tailing, and a distinctive feature of
the male genitalia; a prominent flap arising subapically from the ventral margin
of the valve just distal to the processes from the sacculus. The valve costa is
sometimes obtusely angled, and the aforementioned flap is sometimes apically
bifid.
The male antennae are strongly bipectinate, the pectinations
tapering away at, about three-quarters, mostly of the rather 'untidy'
Hemitheiti type, though relatively neat and uniform in M. thetydaria. The
postmedials are strongly crenulate, usually paler than the ground or white and
more regular, broken than in Hemithea. The margins are sometimes
delineated with red. The discal marks are often lunulate, variably darker green
than the ground. The wing shape, particularly the strength of the hindwing tail,
the markings and the size of species in the genus are diverse. Typical Maxates
have broad buff or cream zones on the forewing costa and distal to the
postmedials.
In the male abdomen there is usually a pair of setal patches
on the third sternite but the development of this and its separation is
variable: sometimes it is absent. The eighth sternite is similarly variable,
form unmodified to cleft or spinous. The ventral flap of the valve is the only
relatively constant feature in a range of variability of shape and saccular
ornamentation. The uncus, socii, vinculum and coremata are typical of the
Hemitheiti.
The females have ovipositor lobes of the modified type and a
bicornute signum. Ductus, bursa, and sometimes the sterigma are usually
unmodified, thought the ostium is often broad, funnel-like.
The genus is diverse in the Oriental tropics (about 20
species in Borneo), extending more weakly into Australasia and temperate
latitudes. There are a few African species. Inoue (1989) reviewed the fauna of
Taiwan. Host records are from trees in a very wide range of plant families,
including Anacardiaceae, Celastraceae, Combretaceae, Dipterocarpaceae,
Euphorbiaceae, Fagaceae, Juglandaceae, Myrtaceae and Rosaceae (Browne, 1968;
Singh, 1953; Nakajima & Sato, 1979; McFarland, 1979;
Bigger, 1988).
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