Hypephyra, BUTLER, 1889

Scoble, Malcolm J. & Krüger, Martin, 2002, A review of the genera of Macariini with a revised classification of the tribe (Geometridae: Ennominae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 134 (3), pp. 257-315 : 311

HYPEPHYRA BUTLER

(Figs 59, 60, 227–232)

Hypephyra Butler, 1889 . Type species: Hypephyra terrosa Butler, 1889 . India.

Visitaria Swinhoe, 1902. Type species: Visitaria brunneiplaga Swinhoe, 1902 . Sumatra, Borneo. [Synonymized by Yazaki 1993, who treated Visitaria [misspelled as Visitara ] as a subgenus of Hypephyra .]

Selected references. Yazaki (1993); Holloway, [1994].

Description

Head. Chaetosemata not extended. Antenna of male strongly ciliate; not bipectinate.

Wings (Figs 59, 60). Fairly large for Macariini . Typically brownish or yellowish brown; hindwing sometimes mainly whitish, apex produced into short tail.

Male genitalia ( Figs 227, 228, 231 ). Uncus with pair of stout horns. Gnathos: medial element long and narrow, distinctive. Valva: strongly modified, with massive tongue-shaped valvula; costa with digitate process; sacculus a narrow digitate process with a dorsal digitate projection.

Pregenital abdomen of male ( Figs 229, 230 ). Sternum A3 with pecten in the form of a patch rather than a row of bristles ( Fig. 230 ). Sternum A8 not modified ( Fig. 232 ).

Female genitalia. Bursa copulatrix long: ductus bursae partly sclerotized; corpus bursae with prominent signum.

Diagnosis. The general appearance and larger size differs from the situation in most Macariini . The genus is reliably distinguished from all Macariini except Malgassothisa trifida by the three-lobed valva in the male genitalia. However, the much smaller trifida with its orange wings is quite different from Hypephyra .

Distribution. Temperate and tropical Asia: Mainland Asia, Sumatra, Java, Sundaland, the Philippines, Sulawesi ( Yazaki, 1993; Holloway, [1994]).

Comments. There exists no convincing reason to associate Hypephyra with another genus. The only possible link is with Chiasmia on the basis of the costal process and the stoutness of the uncus horns. However, Hypephyra lacks the distinctive and defining sclerite of the uncus in Chiasmia .

Several species are illustrated by Yazaki (1993).

Number of species. There are 10 species ( Yazaki, 1993: 10). A few species misplaced in Hypephyra were referred to Serratophyga Holloway (Holloway, [1994: 130]) , a genus belonging to the Cassymini .

Figures

Figures 227–232. Hypephyra species: 227, H. terrosa, ♂ genitalia; 228–230, H. s-signata, 228, ♂ genitalia; 229, sternum A8 of ♂; 230, pecten on sternum A3 of ♂; 231, H. brunneiplaga, ♂ genitalia; 232, H. brunneiplaga, sternum A8 of ♂.