SUBFAMILY EPIPLEMINAE
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Europlema instabilata Walker comb. n.  
   
Erosia instabilata Walker, 1866, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus., 35: 1646.
   
Epiplema desistaria instabilata Walker; Holloway, 1979: 345.


Europlema instabilata


Diagnosis.
The facies is somewhat intermediate between that of desistaria and semibrunnea, the hindwing resembling that of the latter and the forewing that of the former, though with a more arcuate row of submarginal lunules and lacking a white patch on the underside. The male genitalia have the uncus and gnathus much as in instabilata, and also the valves are small, triangular, though their ventral processes are diagnostically short and broad. The female has the base of the bursa similar to that of semibrunnea, except with the ductus seminalis opening narrower. The signum is much smaller and more basal, with a smaller zone of spining opposite.

Geographical range. Borneo, S. Moluccas, New Guinea, Solomons, Queensland, New Caledonia.

Habitat preference. The larval description (see generic account) of Bigger (1988) is probably referable to instabilata rather than semibrunnea, as the latter is much rarer in the Solomons.

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