Micardia Butler, 1878

Chen, Fuqiang & Xue, Dayong, 2012, A review of Micardia Butler, 1878 from China (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Eustrotiinae, Zootaxa 3417, pp. 45-52 : 46

Micardia Butler, 1878

Micardia Butler, 1878 , Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (5)1: 81; Chen, 1999, Fauna Sinica, 16: 911. Type species: Micardia argentata Butler, 1878 , by original designation.

Description. Head. Frons pale yellow to fuscous; antennae yellow, minutely ciliated in male; haustellum well developed; labial palpi upturned, reaching vertex, the second segment covered with long scales ventrally. Thorax. Yellow to fuscous dorsally; patagia and tegulae yellow, fuscous or pink. Legs yellow; midleg tibiae with a pair of spurs, hindlegs tibiae with two pairs of spurs. Venation. Forewing with Sc arising from base, R1 from middle of upper margin of discal cell, R2–4 before upper angle of cell, R3 and R4 stalked in basal half, forming an areole with R5 basally, R5 and M1 from upper angle of cell, M2, M3 and CuA1 from lower angle of cell, CuA2 arising from middle of ventral margin of cell, 1A+2A present. Hindwing with Sc+R1 from base, Rs and M1 from upper angle of cell, M2, M3 and CuA1 from lower angle of cell, M3 and CuA1 stalked basally; CuA2 from middle of ventral margin of cell. Wing pattern. Forewing with ground color yellow to fuscous; a white stripe usually present in discal cell, or on ventral margin of cell; a white oblique line usually from apex to middle of inner margin or incurved to base of forewing; underside similar to upside, but paler. Hindwing yellow to fuscous, discocellular spot and postmedial line present or absent; underside paler than upside. Abdomen. Pale yellow to fuscous. Male genitalia. Uncus slender and elongate, curved ventrally; base broadened; terminal half with dense long setae; tip pointed, sometimes an additional acute hook present on the tip. Tegumen trapezoidal, peniculus densely covered with long setae; vinculum almost as long as tegumen; saccus small, projecting dorsally. Valva usually asymmetric, variable, constricting towards apex; transtilla plate-like, extending towards uncus; harpe usually present or absent; costa and sacculus broad and strong. Juxta keeled, pyriform or oblong. Aedeagus moderate length, sclerotized ventrally; vesica with minute spines, ductus ejaculatorius arising from middle of aedeagus. Female genitalia. The eighth abdominal tergite broad, usually semicircular sclerotized; papillae anales near rectangular, densely covered with long setae; apophyses anterioris and posteriores short; ostium with sclerotized antrum; corpus bursae rounded, densely covered with minute spines inside; ductus seminalis minute, arising from base of corpus bursae.

Diagnosis. Both the genus and Pseudodeltote Ueda, 1984 differ from other Deltote generic group by sharing a deep groove on the lateral wall of tegumen ( Ueda 1984, 1987). The former two genera are different from Micardia in having the reniform stigmata entirely absent on forewing.

Distribution. China, Russia (Kurile Isl.), Japan, Korea, India, Bhutan, Myanmar and Madagascar.

Remarks. The genus Micardia was placed by early authors to a heterogeneous assemblage Erastrianae (sensu Hampson 1910), later called Acontiinae (sensu auctorum). In the course of recent modifications of the classification of the Noctuidae this assmeblage has been divided into the subfamilies Acontiinae, Eustrotiinae , Boletobiinae, Aediinae, Metoponiinae and Sinocharinae, with some genera placed to Xyleninae ( Speidel et al. 1996; Fibiger & Lafontaine 2005; Lafontaine & Fibiger 2006; Holloway 2009, 2011; Lafontaine & Schmidt 2010; Zahiri et al. 2010, 2011). Ueda (1984, 1987) placed Micardia into Deltote group. Presently this group is considered as a core of the modern subfamily Eustrotiinae , and therefore we consider Micardia as a member of this subfamily.