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Atacira Swinhoe Gen. rev.
Type species: approximata Walker.
This genus is revived to include a large assemblage of mainly Oriental
species usually attributed to Eutelia. The forewings are mostly bluish or
pinkish grey fasciated with several distinct dark lines, and bear a dark
triangle subapically on the costa.
The genus is defined by the massive structure of the male eighth
sternite set between two coremata (Fig. 24). There is also a pair of eversible
coremata between tergite and sternite. The genitalia are distinctive (Figs. 60,
61): an elongate harpe extends well beyond the roughly triangular valves; a
small, hook-tipped uncus articulates from the tegumen above a sclerotised
triangular gnathus that extends beyond it; the saccus is long, slender, usually
lobed and lacks cornuti. Despite their extreme modification, the male genitalia
are very uniform within the genus and offer no obvious diagnostic characters at
a specific level. Diagnosis of species is through characters of forewing
pattern.
The female genitalia have the pair of scobinate signa in the bursa
copulatrix that are found in a number of euteliine genera (Fig. 39).
The following taxa in addition to those below are here transferred to Atacira,
combs. n.: grabczewskii Pungeler (Japan); melanephra Hampson
(India, Sri Lanka); glauca Prout (Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia); olivaceiplaga
Bethune-Baker (New Guinea); sommereri Kobes (Sumatra, Peninsular
Malaysia; ?Java); affinis Hampson (Taiwan).
The centre of
diversity for the genus appears to be Sundaland and several further species from
there are likely to be described in future. Only two are known from India, four
from Sulawesi and two from New Guinea. The genus is probably allied to the
Afrotropical Parelia Berio (1957), and several Afrotropical species at
present in other genera may prove to belong to Atacira or Parelia, such
as his trio Saalmuller, melanopis Hampson and mima Prout.
The only recorded
life history is for A. melanephra Hampson (Bell, MS), discussed below
under A. barlowi sp. n.
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