Callopistria emiliusalis Walker

Diethusa emiliusalis Walker, 1857, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus., 16: 206.

Eutelia consentana Walker, 1864, J . Linn. Soc. Lond. (Zool.), 7:68.

Lusia detegens Walker, 1864 ,Ibid. 7:72.

Euxoa cabara Swinhoe, 1918, Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (9), 2. 66, syn. n. ; Syntype ♀ labelled 'Padang, W. Sumatra' hereby designated LECTOTYPE. Of two paralectotypes, one is emiliusalis, the other Condica illecta Walker.

Diagnosis

This, Callopistria ventralis and Callopistria albipunctus are large, dull brownish grey species lacking the submarginal white markings of most other Callopistria. C. emiliusalis has rather uniform forewings though sometimes with a blackish circular zone basally. There is an oblique, dark, diffuse bar medially in emiliusalis that in ventralis forms the basal boundary of a diagnostic dark brown triangular area bounded distally by the postmedial (which is straighter than in emiliusalis) and containing a distinctive white streak that occurs only as a faintly paler dot in emiliusalis. The male genitalia of all three species are very similar; the valves in emiliusalis are apically slightly broader, squarer.

Geographical range

Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra.

Habitat preference

Most material is from disturbed or open habitats.

Taxonomic note

Callopistria emiliusalis Walker was listed by Poole (1989) under its original genus, Diethusa Walker, of which it is the type species. Its synonym, consentanea Walker, is the type species of Pachydasys Butler (see also Nye, 1975). These two genus-group names were not listed as synonyms of Callopistria Hübner in Part 12, though emiliusalis was treated under Callopistria, being placed in a subgroup with two other Bornean species. It was also placed in Callopistria by Barlow (1982), reflecting its status at that time (and as currently in the BMNH card index). These two genus-group names should therefore have been listed as synonyms of Callopistria in Part 12. Yen & Wu (2009) included Diethusa but not Pachydasys in their list of synonyms of Callopistria.

Genitalia: