Psyra Walker, 1860

Liu, Zulian, Xue, Dayong, Wang, Wenkai & Han, Hongxiang, 2013, A review of Psyra Walker, 1860 (Lepidoptera, Geometridae, Ennominae) from China, with description of one new species, Zootaxa 3682 (3), pp. 459-474 : 460-461

Psyra Walker, 1860

Psyra Walker, 1860 , List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Brit. Mus., 21: 311, 482. Type species: Psyra cuneata Walker, 1860 , by monotypy.

Orbasia Swinhoe, 1894, Trans. ent. Soc. Lond., 1894: 222. Type species: Hyperythra spurcataria Walker, 1863 , by monotypy. Oncodocnemis Rebel, 1901, in Staudinger& Rebel, Cat. Lepid. palaearct. Faunengeb., 1: 354. Type species: Phasiane boarmiata Graeser, 1892 , by monotypy.

Description. Head. Antenna filiform in both sexes. Frons rounded, slightly projecting. Labial palpus slightly projecting beyond frons. Thorax. Hind tibia dilated and with hair-pencil in male, with two pairs of spurs in both sexes. Wing pattern. Wings greyish white, greyish green, greyish yellow or grey. Forewing apex sometimes more or less falcate (especially in P. rufolinearia Leech, 1897 and P. spurcataria ); outer margin smooth, or weakly protruding at vein M3, hindwing with outer margin smooth or protruding at M1 and M3. Forewing with transverse lines distinct or indistinct, usually present as different-sized black patches: antemedial line composed of three patches, the patch on inner margin often larger than the other two; postmedial line a series of small dots; submarginal line usually forming two triangular patches between M1 and M3, and one large wedge-shaped patch on vein 2A; terminal line a series of black dots. Hindwing with medial line often straight, band-like if present; postmedial line usually indistinct; terminal or submarginal band present or not. Discal spot in various shapes. Underside dull grey, greyish black or greyish yellow, transverse lines pale brown, a faint broad band usually present outside postmedial line. In P. spurcataria , P. crypta Yazaki, 1994 , P. debilis Warren, 1888 , P. rufolinearia , P. bluethgeni ( Püngeler, 1904) and P. breviprotrusa sp. nov., antemedial lines lacking typical patches, postmedial line distinctly linear and not composed of dots, submarginal line composed of small patches between vein Ms and around vein 2A. In P. trilineata ( Moore, 1868) , very clear linear transverse lines present on both fore- and hindwings and black patches lacking. Frenulum present. Venation. Forewing with Sc anastomosing with R1 for a short distance, R1 sometimes shortly anastomosing with R2, R2-5 separate from M1, M3 separate from CuA1. Hindwing with R S and M1 separate, M3 and CuA1 separate, 3A present. Abdomen. Third sternite of male abdomen with setal comb. In P. spurcataria , eighth sternite of male with a pair of sclerotized processes. Male genitalia.

Uncus very narrow to moderately broad, usually rounded at apex, spinose on dorsal side. Gnathos with central process stout, tongue-like, triangular or slender-stick like, with apex rounded. Valva often long and narrow, usually tapering, sometimes with round tip, occasionally rather short and broad; costal basal lobe of valva more or less curved, occasionally straight, usually with a tiny pointed process at tip (except in P. dsagara , P. spurcataria and P. crypta ); sacculus undeveloped except in P. cuneata . Saccus usually expanding. Juxta a wide square-like sclerite, with various posterior decorations. Aedeagus often with one ( P. moderata , P. co n fe r ta Inoue, 1983, P. fulvaria Yazaki, 1992 , P. c r y p t a), two ( P. szetschwana , P. dsagara , P. similaria Moore, 1868 , P. angulifera (Walker, 1866)) , or three ( P. cuneata , P. gracilis , P. spurcataria ) bundles of short spines on vesica, sometimes lacking spinose bundle ( P. falcipennis Yazaki, 1994 , P. breviprotrusa sp. nov., P. bluethgeni , P. boarmiata ); the cornutus usually a very thin and long spine, occasionally a short stick-like sclerite. Female genitalia. Ostium bursae sclerotized, small to very broad. Lamella postvaginalis usually a semicircular sclerite, occasionally a pair of processes ( P. spurcataria and P. crypta ). Antrum short to long. Ductus bursae very narrow to medium broad, short to very long, weakly or strongly sclerotized, wrinkled. Corpus bursae oval or round, bearing a discoid signum with marginal and central spines.

Diagnosis. Most species of Psyra can be easily recognized by the black submarginal wedge-shaped patch, two triangular patches between vein M, enlarged antemedial patch on the inner margin. Psyra is possibly the only genus in the Ennominae that has this characteristic wing pattern. The forewing transverse lines of some species of Loxaspilates Warren, 1893 , for example L. densihastigera Inoue, 1983 ( Taiwan) , are composed of elongate black patches similar to those in P. szetschwana and P. similaria , but the patches are not wedge-shaped as in the latter two species. The male genitalia of Psyra are more or less similar to those of Peratophyga Warren, 1894 , for the latter also has a narrow valva and long costal basal lobe, though they have quite different wing patterns. The costal basal lobe is usually strongly angled or folded, and the gnathos is much smaller in Peratophyga . Only one species, Psyra spurcataria , shares two processes on the male eighth sternite and a pair of processes of the lamella postvaginalis with the members of Loxaspilates , but the genitalia of P. spurcataria does not have large separated gnathos arms in the male, and the female ductus bursae is much longer than in Loxaspilates .

Remarks. The known larvae of Psyra are polyphagous. The larvae of P. bluethgeni have been described by Sato in Sugi (1987, p. 103), and three colour morphs are figured on pl. 42, figures 1–3. It is stated that 15 species belonging to 10 families of host plants have been recorded for P. bluethgeni . Parsons et al. (1999) recorded the following food plants for P. bluethgeni : Eupteleaceae : Euptelea polyandra ; Fagaceae : Quercus acuta ; Quercus acutissima ; Lauraceae : Lindera praecox ; Oleaceae : Fraxinus sieboldiana ; Polygonaceae : Polygonum cuspidatum ; Rosaceae : Malus sieboldii ; Saxifragaceae : Astilbe odontophylla . Robinson et al. (2001, 2012) recorded Rosaceae (Rosa) as a host plant of P. spurcataria .

Distribution. China, Russia, Japan, India, Nepal.