Odontodes Guenée, 1852

Qi, Feng, Wang, Ke, Xue, Dayong & Yang, Ding, 2011, A taxonomic revision of the Stictopterinae (Lepidoptera, Noctuoidea, Noctuidae) in China, Zootaxa 2926, pp. 1-45 : 12-13

Genus Odontodes Guenée, 1852

Odontodes Guenée, 1852 , in Boisduval et Guenée, Hist. nat. Ins. (Lepid.), 7: 50. Type-species: Odontodes aleuca Guenée, 1852 , by monotypy.

Burdria Walker, 1869a , Characters of Undescribed Lepidoptera Heterocera : 50. Type-species: Burdria edemoides Walker, 1869 , by monotypy.

Nedroma Walker, 1869b , in Chapman, Proc. N. H. Soc. Glasg., (2) 1: 353. Type-species: Nedroma ferruginea Walker, 1869 , by monotypy.

Diagnosis. This genus resembles Lophoptera , but differs mainly in small male eighth segment of the abdomen and lacking of coremata. In the male genitalia, the valva is generally bifid apically. In the female genitalia, the appendix bursae is smaller than the corpus bursae.

Description. Head. Distance between compound eyes same as eye diameter. Frons blackish-brown, with short erected scales. Antenna always brown, base color paler than the rest. Vertex brown, often with erected scales. Labial palpus extended beyond frons, the second segment always elongate, the outer side sometimes with dark patches. Thorax. Patagia and tegulae blackish-brown, mixed with thick greyish-brown scales, sometimes mixed with greyish-white scales; patagia longer than half of mesothorax. Legs blackish-brown, segments ends grey. Female frenulum with two spines. Wing shape and venation. Forewing triangular, not elongate, apex pointed, outer margin slightly wavy, anal margin incurved before tornus, tornus falcate downwards. Hindwing wide, both apex and tornus rounded, outer margin slightly incurved between M veins. Forewing venation: R1 free; R3, R4 and R5 stalked, diverging from upper angle of cell, R5 diverging near base of stalk; R3 and R4 separate before middle of stalk; R3-5 and R2 connected by a short vein, formed an areole before upper angle of cell. Hindwing venation: Rs and M1 diverging from upper angle of cell; M2 diverging slightly before lower angle of cell, M3 and CuA1 diverging from lower angle of cell ( Fig. 6 ). Wing-pattern. Forewing brown, sometimes with purplish shining, lines and patches black, wing patterns various greatly; hindwing blackish-brown with basal half almost transparent, left veins black. Underside: basal half of forewing greyish-white, black reniform occasionally present, terminal half brown; hindwing with similar patterns as forewing. Abdomen. Dark-brown, sometimes segments ends black, the first and the third segments sometimes with dorsal crests. The eighth segment small, coremata disappeared. Male genitalia. Uncus triangular, sometimes reduced. Gnathos sometimes present. Valva apically bifid (except O. aleuca ). Vesica without cornutus except a globular sclerotized lobe in the ductus ejaculatorius. Female genitalia. Ovipositor short and wide, with thick hairs, sometimes with specialized processes around ostium. Appendix bursae sometimes present, but much smaller than corpus bursae. Ductus bursae elongate and strong. Signum tridentate, with scobination directed distad.

Distribution. Oriental, Australian and Afrotropical regions.

Remarks. Holloway (1985) regarded the single spine of the female frenulum as diagnostic for the subfamily, but here we find the female frenulum of O. aleuca Guenée, 1852 is composed of two spines, so we amended the diagnosis of the subfamily into the female frenulum sometimes with two spines.

Figures

FIGURES 3 – 11. Venations. 3. Stictoptera signifera. 4. Aegilia describens. 5. Gyrtona lapidarioides. 6. Odontodes aleuca. 7. Lophoptera squammilinea. 8. Lophoptera longipennis. 9. Diascoides ferruginea. 10 – 11. Sigmuncus arcuata. 10, male; 11, female.