Manulea Wallengren, 1863

Volynkin, Anton V. & Saldaitis, Aidas, 2021, Two new species of Manulea Wallengren, 1863 from southwestern China and northern Vietnam (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae: Lithosiini), Zootaxa 4991 (2), pp. 389-397 : 390

Genus Manulea Wallengren, 1863

Manulea Wallengren, 1863 , Wiener entomologische Monatschrift, 7: 145, 146.

Type species: Lithosia gilveola Ochsenheimer, 1810 (a junior synonym of Phalaena palliatella Scopoli, 1763 ), by subsequent designation by Moore (1878).

Diagnosis. The genus was characterized and compared with Eilema in details by Dubatolov & Zolotuhin (2011). No autapomorphies can be recognized, but in the male genitalia, the combination of the following features is characteristic for the genus: (1) the vinculum is strongly elongate, with thin and weakly sclerotized arms, not forming a saccus, with membranous intravincular area bearing one or two bunches of androconial scales; (2) the valva has a long and wide dorsal part with thin costa lacking processes; (3) the sacculus is relatively narrow and having an elongate, thorn-like distal process well separated from the dorsal part of the valva; (4) the aedeagus vesica broad and bearing few robust cornuti. The similar structure of the vinculum is also known in several other genera, namely the Eurasian Eilema , Tarika Moore , Collita Moore , and the African Lepidilema Aurivillius , Dimorphilema Krüger , Syntemnilema Krüger and Lophilema Aurivillius , but all these genera differ from each other by their valva structures. In the female genitalia, the large appendix bursae (in comparison to the corpus bursae) is characteristic.