Timandra Duponchel, 1829

Cui, Le, Xue, Dayong & Jiang, Nan, 2019, A review of Timandra Duponchel, 1829 from China, with description of seven new species (Lepidoptera, Geometridae), ZooKeys 829, pp. 43-74 : 43

Genus Timandra Duponchel, 1829

Timandra Duponchel, 1829: 105. Type species: Timandra griseata Petersen, 1902.

Bradyepetes Stephens, 1829: 44. Type species: Timandra griseata Petersen, 1902 [junior objective synonym of Timandra Duponchel].

Bradypetes Agassiz, 1847: 52 [emendation of Bradyepetes Stephens].

Generic characters.

Head. Male antennae bipectinate, pectination covered with ciliae, usually black on basal part; female antennae filiform. Labial palpi with last segment narrow. Hind tibia in male not dilated, with two pairs of spurs, sometimes a black spot present at apex of one spur in each pair. Venation. Forewing with one areole; R1 arising distally or directly from apex of areole; R5 sometimes stalked with R2-4, sometimes not. Hindwing with Rs and M1 separate or shortly stalked, M3 and CuA1 separate. Forewing with acute apex, sometimes protruding outside, outer margin nearly straight or slightly arched; hindwing with outer margin forming a small protrusion on vein M3. Forewing with medial line oblique, arising from apex or subapex; postmedial line narrow, usually overlapping with medial line near apex. Hindwing with medial line straight. Postmedial line and discal spot often more distinct on underside than those on upperside.

Male genitalia. Uncus often short digitiform, or slightly raised, sometimes dilated at tip. Socii usually well developed, sometimes absent. Valva with sclerotized strunctures and usually bifurcate; costa often sclerotized with a process; a short or tuberculate process usually present at base of valvula; a digitate arm usually extending from cleft between valvula and sacculus; sacculus often short, sometimes long and narrow, sometimes asymmetric between right and left valva. Juxta usually broad at base. Saccus often broad, sometimes concave. Aedeagus straight or curved; vesica with or without cornutus.

Female genitalia. Seventh sternite usually strongly sclerotized and bifurcate on posterior margin, sometimes membranous. Papillae anales usually stout and short. Sterigma sometimes developed. Colliculum present. Ductus seminalis usually arising from posterior part of ductus bursae or apex of appendix bursae. Ductus bursae usually sclerotized on posterior part. Corpus bursae usually long and oval, membranous; signum with a longitudinal sclerite inside a slightly sclerotized plate, a pouch present on anterior part.

Diagnosis.

Timandra can be distinguished from other genera within Timandrini in the following external characters: the vein Sc+R1 of the hindwing is less strongly anastomosing with the cell in Timandra than in Haematopis (Prout 1931); the outer margin of the forewing below the apex often has an incision in Traminda , while it is straight in Timandra ; the discal spot is reddish-brown or brown in Timandra , but consists of a black circle with a white center in Synegiodes . In the genitalia, Timandra can be easily distinguished by the combination of the following characters: the valva of the male genitalia is complex and often divided into two parts, with a slender digitiform process usually arises from the cleft between the valvula and the sacculus; the seventh sternite of the female is usually strongly sclerotized and bifurcated on the posterior margin.

Distribution.

Asia, Europe, and North America.

Host-plant.

Larvae have been recorded on Polygonaceae only ( Holloway 1997; Hausmann 2004).

Remarks.

We found that the shape of the frons is variable in Chinese species of Timandra : slightly protruded in T. oligoscia Prout, 1918, T. quadrata sp. n., T. robusta sp. n., T. dichela (Prout, 1935), T. griseata Petersen, 1902, T. extremaria Walker, 1861, and T. recompta (Prout, 1930) (Fig. 38); fully protruded in T. paralias (Prout, 1935) and T. distorta sp. n. (Fig. 39); forming a rounded protrusion in T. accumulata sp. n. (Fig. 40), T. apicirosea (Prout, 1935), T. ruptilinea Warren, 1897, and T. comptaria Walker, 1863; with a sharp protrusion in T. adunca sp. n., T. convectaria Walker, 1861 (Fig. 41), and T. correspondens Hampson, 1895; protruded with an obtuse protrusion on the ventral margin in T. viminea sp. n. (Fig. 42); not protruding in T. stueningi sp. n.

The seventh sternite of the female is often not separated from the female genitalia, except in T. griseata , T. convectaria Walker, 1861, T. viminea , and T. ruptilinea Warren, 1897 in the present study (Figs 61, 65, 70, 72).

A male specimen from Hong Kong has a slightly different wing pattern from the other recognized species of Timandra , and may be a new species (Roger Kendrick pers. comm.). However, as only one specimen has been found, more specimens need to be collected and studied to allow for a full description.