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This
complex of genera was reviewed by Berio & Fletcher (1958), and is probably
monophyletic (the phylum of Sypna of Berio (1959)), though Berio & Fletcher
did not include Pterocyclophora Hampson. The group can be loosely
defined on similarities of facies, male genitalia and some aspects of the
spining of the legs, but includes species both with and without tibial spining
within two of the genera, Sypnoides Hampson and Hypersypnoides Berio. Sypna itself and Daddala Walker lack
tibial spining, whereas it is present in Pterocyclophora. The facies of
the forewing is generally cryptic and irregularly fasciated, the fasciae often
rather broken. The submarginal is usually biarcuate, sometimes with only the
anterior arc present and often enclosing a paler zone distal to its concavity.
The hindwings are much more uniform, usually darker towards the margin, with
fasciation occurring only in this marginal zone and tending to be more intense
towards the tornus. The marginal fringes are often paler over the anterior half
of the hindwing, and the margins of all the wings are usually scalloped,
sometimes strongly so. This scalloping is more prominent, sometimes extended
into slight tails, in Daddala and Pterocyclophora. The underside
patterning often includes one or two strong, dark, narrow medial to antemedial
bands set in a much paler ground, together with a broader but usually more
diffuse submarginal band. The male antennae are fasciculate or bipectinate. The
labial palps are typically catocaline with a slender third segment. The
clypeofrons is unscaled and there is a well developed pair of extensions into
the diaphragm between the first and second abdominal tergites.
Berio
used features of the male genitalia for recognition of individual genera, as
well as elements of the facies. Features found in most or all genera include a
tegumen that is somewhat flexed to project the uncus posteriorly, rather as in
many butterfly genera, such that mounting of the genitalia laterally may be
necessary to avoid distortion. A scaphium is often present. The valve usually
has an interior flap or flange associated with the dorsal margin of the
sacculus, though the position of this can vary (distal in Sypna, basal in Daddala, central and
obliquely based in Hypersypnoides). The saccus is long and slender. The
aedeagus is also slender, with the insertion of the ductus ejaculatorius
usually (many Sypnoides and some Hypersypnoides species are an
exception) set well distal to the base, the basal section being much narrower.
The aedeagus may bear clusters or rows of spines more distally. The juxta is
usually a small plate. The eighth segment of the abdomen is variously modified, the sternite and tergite considerably shortened
almost to transverse strips in Sypnoides and Hypersypnoides, but with a
more elaborate system of hair-pencils in Daddala. The structure
does not appear to be comparable to, or a modification of, the framed
corematous type.
In the
female genitalia, the ostium is associated more with the eighth segment than
the seventh, but the latter has the sternite reduced relative to the tergite as
described on p. 20. The ductus is usually short, and the corpus bursae is small to moderate, usually unsclerotised, with no
signum.
The
greatest diversity of the group is in the Oriental tropics and subtropics; many
of the Bornean species are restricted to montane forests (Table 1). This
diversity is attenuated through Wallacea to New
Guinea, with one species of Sypna extending to Australia and
one of Pterocyclophora endemic to the Solomons. Sypna and Sypnoides also have
species in Africa.
Larval
host records are mostly from Fagaceae, but several species of Sypnoides Hampson and Hypersypnoides Berio have been
recorded from both Quercus in that family and also Malus, Rosa and Rubus (Rosaceae)
(Miyata, 1983; Sugi, 1972, 1987; Robinson et al., 2001; see also
below). The larvae of Sypnoides species are described under that genus, but no
descriptions of the larvae of other genera have been located.
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