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Nycteola
Hübner
Type
species: undulana
Hübner (= revayana
Scopoli), Europe.
Synonyms: Axia
Hübner (type species
revayana
Scopoli, E. Germany);
Dufayella
Capuse (type species asiatica
Krulikovsky); Icasma
Turner (type species
minutum
Turner, Australia);
Sarrothripus
Curtis (type species
degenerana
Hübner, Europe);
Subrita
Walker (type species
bilineatella
Walker = revayana
Scopoli, India);
Symitha
Walker (type species
nolalella
Walker, Java) syn. n.
The forewings are narrow, grey, with a variety of markings much as in the Bornean species illustrated. The venation is typically of the groundplan type,
but with M3 and CuA1 stalked in the hindwing. In Symitha the hindwing
veins at the posterior angle of the cell are reduced to three, and the forewing
areole is lost, the radial sector branching being (R2 (R3, R4)); however, it is
brought into synonymy with Nycteola on the grounds of shared features of
the male abdomen.
The male abdomen lacks tymbals, but the eighth segment has apodemes, and carinae
have been noted on the genitalia of Bornean N.
sinuosa
Moore (valves; Fig. 182) and N.
indicatana
Walker (tegumen; Fig. 180). The uncus is broad, often square-ended, with a
slight gnathus forming a tube that encloses the anus. The tegumen extends well
below the junction with the vinculum and is massively expanded each side to
support a dark pad giving rise to a dense mass of hairs. The vinculum is slender
but extended in an elliptical to rectangular loop in which the very long
saccular shield is conspicuous, expanding at the apex rather like an axe-head.
The aedeagus is usually slender and may be partially fused to the saccular
shield. Cornuti in the vesica can be present, usually just a single one (e.g. in
diplographa
Hampson from S. India). The valves are complex, convolute, with several lobes
that bear arrays of setae; these setae can be broad, blade-like.
The female genitalia usually have triangular to acute ovipositor lobes, but the ductus and bursa show great variety of structure.
Larval characteristics are shared with
Etanna
and allies as indicated and by Gardner (1948a)
Host records in temperate regions are often from Fagaceae and Salicaceae
(e.g. Sugi, 1987), but some preference for Myrtaceae is evident in the species
discussed below.
The genus is widespread in the Old World and extends to the Nearctic and then
south to Costa Rica.
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