Cultripalpa partita Guenée

Cultripalpa partita Guenée, 1852, Hist. Nat. Insectes, Spec. gén. Lépid. 7: 332.

Cultripalpa indistincta Moore, 1882, Descr. New Indian lepid Insects Colln Atkinson

Diagnosis

Both this and Cultripalpa lunulifera Hampson show sexual dimorphism, the females being paler, browner and more uniform than the males. In partita males the hindwing medial is more regular and clearly linear, and the white submarginal marks of lunulifera Hampson are absent. The hindwing in lunuliferais generally more variegated. Females of lunulifera are also more variegated, particularly in the discal area of the forewing; in partita this area usually only has two rather diffuse blackish spots associated with the loop of the postmedial. This fascia and the medial of the hindwing are more regular and apparent in partita.

Geographical range

India, Borneo, Philippines, Australia (according to Nielsen et al., 1996, but see Cultripalpa lunulifera Hampson).

Habitat preference

The species is rare in Borneo. Older material consists of a female from Kuching and a male labelled just ‘N. Borneo’. In recent surveys a further female was collected from coastal and secondary forest at Seria in Brunei.

Taxonomic Note

A species of Cultripalpa Guenée has been included in the ongoing molecular analyses of Zahiri et al. (in preparation); it was placed with only weak support as sister to a clade containing three Hypena species. It is therefore transferred here from the fifth miscellaneous sequence of Parts 15 & 16 to the sequence of genera in the Hypeninae in Part 17 that have traditionally been placed in that subfamily but fall outside the Hypena Schrank or Mecistoptera Hampson groups of genera. The male genitalia bear some superficial resemblance to those of Anoratha Moore (figs 608, 609 in Parts 15 & 16 compared with fig 458 in Part 17), but the coupling of tegumen and vinculum differs as do the structures of the eighth abdominal segment. The female genitalia also differ considerably. The transfer is thus made primarily as a stimulus for further study.

Genitalia: