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Diplurodes Warren
Type species: vestita Warren, N.E. Himalaya.
A core group of Diplurodes, including the type species, is
typified by the following features of the male abdomen: strong pairs of coremata
between segments 4 and 5, and 7 and 8; a setose, tongue-like process
arising as a sort of pseudouncus from the tegumen; a gnathus with a broad,
tongue-like distal portion densely covered with pale weak spines; a weak costa
to the valve, the lamina of which is often crinkled; a single basal saccular
process, digitate, bearing a robust spine at its apex (in a few species it is
associated with one or two other spine-like processes); a narrower juxta that
fuses with the vinculum (this is broadly angled on each side) and extends beyond
it as a slender rod. The gnathus and coremata features can be used to bring a
number of taxa into Diplurodes that lack the other characteristics, as
will be discussed for each.
The female genitalia are similar to those of Ectropidia but the
signum is more typical of the Myrioblephara group.
The facies is typically grey on white, heavily suffused with the former
on both wings distal to the postmedials which are usually sinuous. The medial
zone is more or less white, containing a black discal spot and a diffuse,
slender medial black bar. One group of species (e.g. D. indentata Warren)
is a more uniform brownish grey, but with similar fasciation.
The larva of the Japanese race of the type species was illustrated in
Sugi (1987). It is pale grey with a broadly darker dorsal zone that is broken
into four large, nested chevrons centrally that have their points truncated and
directed towards the head. The most anterior chevron is distinctly darker than
the rest. The host-plant in Japan is Quercus (Fagaceae).
The genus is restricted to the Oriental Region, with its greatest
diversity in Sundaland.
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