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Didigua
Walker
Type
species: purpureoscripta
Walker, Borneo.
Synonyms: Bessara
Walker (type species
uadratipennis
Walker, Borneo) syn. n.;
Lasionotella
Warren (type species
exesa
Warren, Borneo), syn. n.
Though Bessara has page priority, Didigua has had more recent
usage and is therefore treated as senior synonym here.
The species in Didigua are generally duller than in
Calymera
and Xenochroa, grey, fawn and brown, occasionally tinged green, red or
violet. The forewing fasciae are more irregular, usually transverse, and the
discal mark is generally more conspicuous. The male hind-legs lack the typical
careine modification.
The genus is defined by a number of unique features of the male genitalia that
are also shared by Lasionotella. Lasionotella may represent a
monophyletic group as defined below, but it is likely that this would render the
rest of Didigua paraphyletic. Species attributable to Lasionotella
(e.g. by Kobes (1997)) are listed from D.
effusa
Swinhoe to D.
padanga
Swinhoe, and may also include
D. viridifusa
Kobes. Non-Bornean taxa referable to the Lasionotella group of Didigua
include the Himalayan species D.
viridipicta
Hampson and D.
immemor
Warren comb. rev.
The male abdomen offers no diagnostic features. In the genitalia, the uncus is
flexed anteriorly (backwards when viewed from ventrally), sinuous, apically
slender and acute but often distinctly broadened basal to this, and then more
‘shouldered’ onto the tegumen (e.g. Fig 344). The tegumen is also shouldered,
the shoulders with narrow bands of thickening. The sides of the tegumen are
elongate, straight, parallel, with distinct clusters of long setae on large
bases. The valves are elongate, rather strap-like, with long setae on similar
large bases on the sacculus. The costal process of the valves is overlapped by a
basally directed lobe as in
Diehlea.
The aedeagus vesica varies from ovate, with one or a few robust cornuti, to
elongate, with diverticula terminating in clusters of smaller spines.
The female has a pyriform bursa with a slender, often elongate neck set on a
short ductus. The neck often has a zone of sclerotisation, sometimes extensive.
The signum is occasionally tee-like, more often irregular, even flanged.
Lasionotella falls within this general definition but has more secondary
sexual features such as hair tufts on the male hindwing and a variety of
coremata in the abdomen. The aedeagus vesica is always of the elongate type. In
the female, the bursa always has the neck and basal half of the bursa
sclerotised, slightly fluted. The distal part is finely scobinate and contains
the signum.
The genus is restricted to the Oriental tropics, with most of its diversity in Sundaland, though perhaps seven species occur in Sulawesi. The species are found
more predominantly in lowland habitats than those of
Calymera
and Xenochroa
(Table 3), and have a particularly high incidence of occurrence in forest types
on acid soils: heath, swamp and coastal forests. They also show a high level of
persistence in secondary and plantation forests (Chey, 1994).
No
host plant records have been located.
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