Aethalopteryx Schoorl, 1990

Borth, Robert, Ivinskis, Povilas, Saldaitis, Aidas & Yakovlev, Roman, 2011, Cossidae of the Socotra Archipelago (Yemen), ZooKeys 122, pp. 45-69 : 50-51

Genus Aethalopteryx Schoorl, 1990

Schoorl, 1990, Zool. Verhandelingen 263: 174-175. Type species - Phragmatoecia atrireta Hampson, 1910.

Diagnosis.

Aethalopteryx is distinguished from close Trismelasmos Schoorl, 1990, Acosma Yakovlev, 2011, Strigocossus Houlbert, 1916 and Azygophleps Hampson, 1892 genus by having cup-shaped antennae in both sexes, forewings with slight reticulated patterns and reduced arms in males gnathos and particularly genital structure of the females.

Description.

Medium sized moths. Male and female antennae cup-shaped; forewing elongate with slight reticular pattern, often with a spot in the costal area and spots in the postdiscal area; hindwing with indistinct reticular pattern.

Male genitalia. Uncus long, thin, basally considerably narrower than width of tegumen; arms of gnathos reduced; tegumen massive; valvae with slightly uneven margins and with rounded apex; saccus massive, semicircular; juxta broad, with wide leaf-shaped lateral processes; aedeagus slightly bent, vesica with a long belt-shaped sclerite forming the projection of lateral aedeagus wall.

Female genitalia. Form short oviductus; papilla analis elongate, gradually narrowing; apophyses posteriores twice the length of apophyses anteriores which are furcate at basal part; ductus membranous, broad, very short; corpus bursae shaped like a long narrow sac, with a star-shaped signum on the lateral surface; bulla located in basal third of bursa on a long membranous ductus.

Remarks.

Thirty-four species of Aethalopteryx have been reported ( Yakovlev 2011), primarily from the east Africa with some distributed elsewhere in Africa or in the Arabian peninsula.