A review of the genera of Macariini with a revised classification of the tribe (Geometridae: Ennominae)
Author
Scoble, Malcolm J.
Author
Krüger, Martin
text
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
2002
2002-03-31
134
3
257
315
https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article-lookup/doi/10.1046/j.1096-3642.2002.00008.x
journal article
10.1046/j.1096-3642.2002.00008.x
0024-4082
5434168
MILOCERA
SWINHOE
(Figs 2, 64–67)
Milocera
Swinhoe, 1904
.
Type
species:
Milocera horaria
Swinhoe (1904)
.
Madagascar
.
Description
Head
. Chaetosemata extended. Antenna fasciculate, not bipectinate.
Wings
(Fig. 2). Often weakly falcate; ranging from off-white, through ochreous to red-brown.
Male genitalia
(
Figs 64, 66
). Uncus usually fairly narrow, pointed or truncated. Gnathos present. Valva divided; shape of costa and of sacculus varies; stout spine-like setae usually present.
Figures 64–67.
Milocera
species
: 64,
M. horaria
, ♂ genitalia; 65,
M. horaria
, ♀ genitalia; 66,
M. arcifera
, ♂ genitalia; 67,
M. arcifera
, ♀ genitalia.
Pregenital abdomen of male
. Sternum A3 with or without a patch of bristles medially. Sternum A8 with margin weakly emarginated in
type
species, ranging to bilobed in some other species and with curved hornlike octavals in others.
Female genitalia
(
Figs 65, 67
). Corpus bursae small and usually densely covered with spines (as in
Platypepla
), but spines absent in
type
species (
horaria
).
Diagnosis
. The
type
species, which occurs in
Madagascar
, differs in the structure of the genitalia from all other species of
Milocera
, notably in the shape of the valva (see
Fig. 64
). The valva of
M. horaria
does not bear stout setae, which differs from the situation in many species. In the female, the shape of the corpus bursae is small and round, typical of the
Platypepla
- group of genera, but it lacks the dense arrangement of spines found in other species of
Milocera
.
Distribution
. Afrotropical region north of
21°S
, and
Madagascar
.
Comments
. The inclusion of species additional to the
type
species by
Prout (1922
,
1932
,
1934
),
Herbulot (1973
,
1989
) and, particularly,
Krüger (2001)
is accepted here provisionally on grounds mainly of similarity in general appearance of the moths and, in particular, the weakly falcate shape of the forewings. An alternative approach would be to synonymize
Milocera
with
Platypepla
, thus expanding considerably the concept of this latter genus. The species of
Platypepla
(in the sense adopted here), however, form a monophyletic group based on characters from the wings and, particularly, of the male genitalia.
Number of species.
Twenty-six species are listed by
Krüger (2001)
, 16 of which are new.