Penicillifera Dierl, 1978

Wang, Xing, Wang, Min, Zolotuhin, Vadim V., Hirowatari, Toshiya, Wu, Shipher & Huang, Guo-Hua, 2015, The fauna of the family Bombycidae sensu lato (Insecta, Lepidoptera, Bombycoidea) from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hainan Islands, Zootaxa 3989 (1), pp. 1-138 : 40

IX. Penicillifera Dierl, 1978 ( FIGURES 14–15 )

Penicillifera Dierl, 1978 , Spixiana 1 (3): 249. Type species: Dasychira apicalis Walker, 1862 , by monotypy.

Diagnosis. Characterized based on the following features: wings gray-white or ochre with numerous small black spots; apex of forewing blunt; inner margin of hindwing straight with 3–4 black spots; uncus bifid and broadly finger-shaped; gnathos reduced; saccus well-developed; aedeagus slender; posterior margin of 8th sternite with a number of short lateral and medial processes; 8th tergite “Y” shaped and covered with long hairs.

Distribution. Oriental Region including the Sino-Himalayan area.

Remarks. Roepke (1924) described the larvae of the type species, which are similar in appearance to those of Ocinara . The younger instars are yellowish gray-brown, whereas the fifth instar is milky-white and gray.Three Penicillifera species are here recorded from China (Map 9).

Map 9. Distribution of Penicillifera spp. mainly in China.

Figures

FIGURE 14. Adults of Penicillifera spp. A. P. apicalis, male (Thailand); B. P. apicalis, male (Thailand); C. P. apicalis, female (Yunnan); D. P. lactea, male (Guangdong); E. P. tamsi, male (Guangxi); F. P. tamsi, female (N. Vietnam).

FIGURE 15. Genitalia of Penicillifera spp. A – B. P. apicalis, male (Thailand); C. P. apicalis, female (Yunnan); D. P. lactea, male (Guangdong); E. P. tamsi, male (Guangxi).