Biston Leach, 1815

Jiang, Nan, Xue, Dayong & Han, Hongxiang, 2011, A review of Biston Leach, 1815 (Lepidoptera, Geometridae, Ennominae) from China, with description of one new species, ZooKeys 139, pp. 45-96 : 46-49

Biston Leach, 1815

Biston Leach, 1815, Brewster’s Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, 9: 134. Type species: Geometra prodromaria Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775 (= Phalaena strataria ( Hufnagel, 1767)), by subsequent designation by Westwood, 1840.

Dasyphara Billberg, 1820, Enumeratio Insect. Mus. G. J. Billberg: 89. Type species: Geometra prodromaria Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775. [Junior objective synonym of Biston Leach.]

Pachys Hübner, 1822, Syst.-alphab. Verz.: 38-44, 46, 47, 49, 50, 52. Type species: Geometra prodromaria Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775. [Junior objective synonym of Biston Leach.]

Eubyja Hübner, 1825, Verz. bekannter Schmett.: 318. Type species: Phalaena betularia Linnaeus, 1758, by subsequent designation by Grote, 1902.

Amphidasis Treitschke, 1825, in Ochsenheimer, Schmett. Eur., 5 (2): 434. Type species: Geometra prodromaria Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775. [Junior objective synonym of Biston Leach.]

Amphidasys Sodoffsky, 1837, Bull. Soc. imp. Nat. Moscou, 10: 90. [Emendation of Amphidasis Treitschke.]

Amphidasea Unger, 1856, Arch. Ver. Freunde Naturg.-Mecklenb., 10: 61. [Emendation of Amphidasis Treitschke.]

Buzura Walker, 1863, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus., 26: 1531. Type species: Buzura multipunctaria Walker, 1863, by monotypy.

Culcula Moore, 1888, in Hewitson & Moore, Descr. new Indian lepid. Insects Colln late Mr W.S. Atkinson, (3): 266. Type species: Culcula exanthemata Moore, 1888, by monotypy.

Eubyjodonta Warren, 1893, Proc. zool. Soc. Lond., 1893: 416. Type species: Eubyjodonta falcata Warren, 1893, by original designation.

Blepharoctenia Warren, 1894, Novit. zool., 1: 428. Type species: Amphidasys bengaliaria Guenée, 1858, by original designation.

Epamraica Matsumura, 1910, Thousand Insects Japan, (Suppl.) 2: 130. Type species: Epamraica bilineata Matsumura, 1910, by monotypy.

Description.

Head. Antennae bipectinate in male, rami short, moderately long or long, length tapering towards apex, often the distal part of antennae without rami; filiform in female (Figs 1-3). Frons not protruding, smooth-scaled. Tongue well developed. Labial palpus small, with hair-scales, not extending beyond frons. Compound eyes setose.

Thorax. Legs covered with hair-scales. Hind tibia slightly dilated, with two pairs of spurs in both sexes, without hair-pencil. Frenulum developed. Forewing without basal fovea in male, triangular, outer margin straight or waved, hindwing round, outer margin smooth, sometimes concave between M1 and M3 or protruding between M1 and CuA1. Wings white, pale yellow or greyish brown, transverse lines black, brown or white. Pattern of forewing: antemedial line slightly waved, often accompanied by a band basally; medial line waved, usually inconspicuous; postmedial line waved or dentate, sometimes protruding outwards between M1 and M3 and between CuA2 and 1A + 2A, often accompanied by a band posteriorly; submarginal line sometimes indistinct; terminal line sometimes appearing as a series of short stripes between veins; discal spot black or grey, shortly strip-like, dot-like or elliptic, pale-centred. Hindwing sometimes with basal line; medial line often indistinct, sometimes double; postmedial line waved or dentate, sometimes protruding outwards between M1 and M3; terminal line similar to those of forewing; discal spot sometimes smaller and less conspicuous than on forewing. Terminal spots occasionally present on both wings, wedge-shaped. Underside paler, transverse lines often similar to those of dorsal surface.

Venation. Forewing: Sc free, R1 and R2 usually stalked (separate in Biston thoracicaria ), diverging before anterior angle of cell; R2 sometimes connected by a short transverse bar with R3-4 or R3-5; R3-5 before or from anterior angle of cell, not stalked with M1; M1 from anterior angle of cell; M3 from posterior angle of cell; CuA1 before posterior angle of cell. Hindwing: Sc+R1 close to cell less than onehalf length of cell; Rs before anterior angle of cell; M1 from anterior angle of cell; M2 absent; M3 from posterior angle of cell; CuA1 before or from posterior angle of cell; 3A absent.

Abdomen. Dorsum scattered with transverse lines or dots, sometimes with anal tuft. Third sternite of male abdomen without setal patch. Intersegmental membrane between abdomen and genitalia densely covered with elongate scales which partly developed to spines in a few species.

Male genitalia. Uncus short and broad, ratio of length to basal width variable, often bifurcate terminally, sometimes bifurcation very shallow or on ventral side below apex, so the latter apparently square or round. Arms of gnathos connected medially, with median process robust or slender, round, acute or square terminally. Valva simple; costa sclerotized, straight or incurved, with terminal half often broadened, bearing long setae from center to apex; sacculus sometimes sinuous. Saccus round or semicircular. Juxta well developed, pointed, or round or flat apically, sometimes elongate, without lateral brushes of long setae, except in Biston melacron Wehrli, 1941. Aedeagus often cylindrical, sclerotized dorsally; vesica usually wrinkled, scobinate, with or without cornuti; shape of cornuti various.

Female genitalia. Papillae anales covered with dense setae, occasionally elongate. Apophyses posteriores usually very long. Lamella postvaginalis sometimes present, oval or almost triangular. Ostium bursae occasionally weakly sclerotized. Ductus bursae striated longitudinally, sometimes sclerotized. Corpus bursae often long, membranous, sometimes curved medially, swollen anteriorly, often bearing a signum; signum elliptic, bar-like or irregularly shaped, often with marginal spines, sometimes weakly sclerotized around.

Diagnosis.

The genus Biston resembles Cusiala Moore and Iulotrichia Warren in: the postmedial lines of both wings often protrudes outwards between M1 and M3; the apex of the uncus is often bifurcated. But Biston differs from Cusiala and Iulotrichia in the following characters: the forewing fovea of the male is absent in Biston but present in Cusiala and Iulotrichia ; in the male genitalia, the aedeagus vesica has numerous, very small, spine-like cornuti, arranged as two pair of longitudinal combs in Cusiala and Iulotrichia , which is absent in Biston . The members of Biston also resemble Lycia Hübner, 1825 and Cochisea Barnes & McDunnough, 1916, both of which belong to the former Bistonini . But both of these genera can be distinguished from Biston by the single pair of spurs on the hind tibia, as well as apterous or brachypterous female in Lycia , and absence of the tongue in Cochisea .

Distribution.

Holarctic, Oriental, and Ethiopian regions.

Biological notes.

The larva is often twig-like with the characteristic 45 degree resting posture and an obtusely cleft head ( Holloway 1994). Singh (1953) recorded the larva of Biston suppressaria ( Guenée, 1858). Issiki et al. (1977) illustrated the larva of Biston robustum Butler, 1879. Yamamoto et al. (1987) described and illustrated the larvae of Biston betularia (Linnaeus, 1758), Biston robustum , Biston regalis (Moore, 1888) and Biston panterinaria . Wagner (2001) recorded the larva of Biston betularia . Sato (2001) described the larva of Biston marginata Shiraki, 1913. Leong (2009) gave a description of the final instar larva and metamorphosis of Biston pustulata . Most species are highly polyphagous. The larval host plants have been recorded from the families Aceraceae , Adoxaceae , Anacardiaceae , Apocynaceae , Aquifoliaceae , Asteraceae , Berberidaceae , Betulaceae , Bombacaceae , Cannabaceae , Caprifoliaceae , Celastraceae , Compositae ( Asteraceae ), Cornaceae , Corylaceae , Cupressaceae , Elaeagnaceae , Ericaceae , Euphorbiaceae , Fagaceae , Ginkgoaceae , Grossulariaceae , Guttiferae ( Clusiaceae ), Iridaceae , Juglandaceae , Lardizabalaceae , Lauraceae , Leguminosae ( Fabaceae ), Lythraceae , Meliaceae , Melianthaceae , Myricaceae , Myrtaceae , Oleaceae , Palmae, Pinaceae , Platanaceae , Rha mnaceae, Rosaceae , Rutaceae , Salicaceae , Sapindaceae , Sterculiaceae , Styracaceae , Solanceae, Theaceae , Tiliaceae , Ulmaceae , Verbenaceae (summarized from Inoue 1965; Holloway 1994; Zhang 1994; Parsons et al. 1999; Sato 2001; Robinson et al. 2004). Patočka (2004) and Patočka and Turcani (2005) construct a key for the pupae of central European species. Nakamura (2004) described and gave a key for the pupae of Japanese species.

Species-group definitions based on morphology

Group I:melacron, marginata, thoracicaria, betularia, robustum, regalis, mediolata, contectaria, bengaliaria, pustulata, suppressaria.

Male antennae bipectinate, with long rami. Forewing outer margin straight, hindwing outer margin usually smooth, sometimes concave between M1 and M3. Postmedial lines of both wings protruding outwards between M1 and M3. Brown terminal spots absent from both wings. Patch of spines absent posterior to 8th tergite on intersegmental membrane. Male genitalia: gnathos with median process acute or round terminally; terminal half of ventral margin of valva not protruding outwards; juxta elongate or not. Female genitalia: ovipositor with apophyses posteriores elongate.

Group II: brevipennata, quercii, falcata.

Male antennae bipectinate, with long rami. Forewing outer margin waved, hindwing outer margin protruding between M3 and CuA1. Postmedial lines of both wings not protruding outwards between M1 and M3. Brown terminal spots present on ends of forewing R5, M1, M3, CuA1, CuA2, hindwing Rs, M1, M3, CuA1, CuA2. Patch of spines absent posterior to 8th tergite on intersegmental membrane. Male genitalia: gnathos median process round terminally; terminal half of ventral margin of valva protruding outwards; juxta elongate. Female genitalia: ovipositor with apophyses posteriores not elongate.

Group III:perclara, thibetaria, panterinaria.

Male antennaebipectinate, with short rami. Postmedial lines of both wings protruding outwards between M1 and M3. Brown terminal spots absent from both forewing and hindwing. Patch of spines present posterior to 8th tergite on intersegmental membrane. Male genitalia: median process of gnathos round terminally; terminal half of ventral margin of valva protruding outwards; juxta not elongate. Female genitalia: ovipositor with apophyses posteriores elongate ( Sato 1996).

Key to Chinese Biston species