Azygophleps Hampson, 1892

Borth, Robert, Ivinskis, Povilas, Saldaitis, Aidas & Yakovlev, Roman, 2011, Cossidae of the Socotra Archipelago (Yemen), ZooKeys 122, pp. 45-69 : 51-53

Genus Azygophleps Hampson, 1892

Azygophleps Hampson, 1892, Fauna Brit. India 1: 309.Type species - Hepialis scalaris Fabricius, 1775.

Azygophlebs Aurivillius, 1925, Ergeb. Zweit. Deutsch. Zentral-Afrika-Exped. 1910-1911: 1349; An incorrect subsequent spelling of Azygophleps Hampson, 1892. [Synonymy]

Diagnosis.

Azygophleps is distinguished from similar genera such as Sansara Yakovlev, 2004, Strigocossus Houlbert, 1916 and Aethalopteryx Schoorl, 1990 by its females’ apically bipectinate antennae, its long forewings rounded at the apex, the abscence of arms in its males’ gnathos, its thick aedeagus, and a short, wide ductus and corpus with a small star-like signum in its females.

Description.

Medium sized moths. Male antennae cup-shaped, those of female bipectinate (apically with gradually reducing pectin); forewing long, with rounded apex, with dense reticular pattern formed by transverse lines and spots; hindwing lightly coloured and uniform.

Male genitalia. Uncus medium-sized, apically hooked; arms of gnathos absent; tegumen medium sized, usually wider than basal part of uncus; valvae with almost straight margins and wide rounded apex; juxta medium-sized, with long, narrow, well-sclerotised lateral processes; saccus semicircular, massive; aedeagus thick, with long sclera forming aedeagus wall.

Female genitalia. Forming long ovipositor; papilla analis stretched, slightly tapering towards apex; apophyses posteriores more than twice as long as apophyses anteriores which are forked basally; ductus short, wide, sclerotised at base; corpus sac-shaped, with a small star-like signum; bulla located on the apical part of bursa.

Remarks.

Twenty-eight species of Azygophleps have been reported ( Yakovlev 2011), primarily throughout Africa with a few species distributed in the Arabian peninsula and Asia.