Careini

The Careini, apart from Maurilia Möschler, are one of the most strongly supported tribes of the Chloephorinae. Tymbal organs (Holloway, 1998, figs 13-19; Figs 228, 230-239) are present on the basal sternite of the males, but they are distinctly triangular, set rather obliquely and well separated, the carinae being more longitudinal in orientation rather than transverse as in the Sarrothripinae and Ariolicini. The tymbals are also strongly associated with the apodemes.

The larvae are characterised by a ‘berry-like’ swelling of the thoracic segments, and in having setal group SD1 on A8 set well above the spiracle, usually vertically so. These features are seen also in some Ariolicini: Lasiolopha Turner has a berry-like thorax, and Labanda Walker, Tathothripa Hampson and Plagiograpta Hampson share the setal feature.

The venation is of the groundplan type, but M1 in the forewing may be connate with the areole or may arise basally from it. The hindwing is quadrifine, but M3 and CuA1 may be stalked; in Aiteta Walker they are connate with M2 and set, trident-like, at the strongly produced posterior angle of the cell.

Another feature that is found in all genera except Didigua Walker, Maurilia and ‘Aiteta’ deminutiva Warren is a modification to the male hind-leg: the tibia is short and bears a hair-pencil that extends over a swollen and enlarged first tarsal segment that bears 4-5 longitudinal rows of spines (Fig 229).

The male abdomen also tends to have the apodemes of the eighth segment, especially of the tergite, short and broad, often separated by a broad excavation. In the genitalia there is typically some sort of gnathus or scaphial structure, usually with a broad rhomboid plate distally. The ventral part or all of the tegumen is usually distinctly expanded on each side and may have a complex articulation with the vinculum, including some overlap. The valves are often paddle-like, though sometimes elongate, and there is usually a subbasal process on the costa. The blade of the paddle often has a mass of basally directed setae over its inner surface around the margin, and the apex may be slightly bilobed, the ‘careine’ type of valve seen also in a group of the Ariolicini.

In the female genitalia, the bursa usually has a single signum, often rather like a golf tee, though this is modified in Aiteta.

Larval features have already been mentioned. There is some host-plant specialisation, with Aiteta on Terminalia (Combretaceae) and some concentration of records for the Carea group of genera in the Myrtaceae(Robinson et al., 2001).

The tribe, with the exception of Maurilia and Aiteta, is restricted to the Indo-Australian tropics, with the species-rich genera of the Carea Walker group (Calymera Moore, Xenochroa Felder and Didigua Walker) particularly diverse in Sundaland (Kobes, 1997). Only a few species, mostly in Aiteta and Chora Walker, occur in Australia.

Bell (MS) stated that the larvae of the several Careini taxa he studied were heavily parasitised by Hymenoptera and attacked by numerous predators.