Katha Moore, 1878

Macià, Ramon, Ylla, Josep, Gastón, Javier, Huertas, Manuel & Bau, Josep, 2022, The species of Eilema Hübner, [1819] sensu lato present in Europe and North Africa (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae: Lithosiini), Zootaxa 5191 (1), pp. 1-87 : 43-44

Genus Katha Moore, 1878

Katha Moore, 1878 Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1878:3–37 pls.1–3.

Type species: Bombyx helvola Hübner, [1803] ; Sammlung Europäischer Schmetterlinge, Bombyces: 125 [“Ziefer”-text] pl. 23, fig. 95, by subsequent designation Hampson, 1900; Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalaenae in the British Museum London 2: 130–145, but cited as Noctua depressa Esper, [1787] nominal species, originally not included in Katha ( Watson et al., 1980) and considered as a minor synonomy of Noctua deplana Esper, 1787 ; Die Schmetterlinge in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen. 4 (1): 97–98, pl. 93, fig. 1–2.

Diagnosis.

Imago. Forewings narrow, with almost straight costal margin in males, slightly convex in females; pale costal stripe often imperceptible, light earthy colour. Most species of the Katha group are relatively large.

Male genitalia. Uncus short, robust and cylindrical; valvae short and very wide; sacculus of uniform width, widening at the tip in the shape of a hook, strongly sclerotised; clasper absent; vinculum of medium size, slightly rectangular. Aedeagus with a large sclerotised cornutus, several times longer than the diameter of the aedeagus.

Female genitalia. Lamella antevaginalis strongly sclerotised; ductus bursae short and sclerotised; bursa copulatrix biglobular, with an elongated signum.

Observations. Katha was treated as a junior synonym of Eilema until Dubatolov & Zolotuhin (2011) elevated it as a valid genus, opinion shared by the authors of this work. Its main characteristic feature is the short and robust valvae of the male genitalia.

Molecular data. A single species of this genus ( Katha depressa ) has been analysed, so we cannot be certain if the results presented for this species would also apply to the whole genus. According to Dubatolov (2011), there are many more species included in Katha , for example Katha conformis (Walker, 1854) ; Katha laevis (Butler, 1877) ; Katha magnata (Matsumura, 1927) ; Katha moorei Leech, 1890 ; Katha nankunshanica Dubatolov, Kishida & Wang, 2012 ; Katha nigropoda (Bremer & Grey, 1852) ; Katha prabana (Moore, 1859) ; Katha suffusa (Leech, 1899) . None of them has been available to the authors and so it has not been possible to include their study in the present work.

Future molecular studies including species placed in the genus Katha will provide additional insight into this genus.

Taxa included.

Katha depressa (Esper, [1787])