Siccia microsticta, Hampson, 1914

Volynkin, Anton V., 2023, Contribution to the knowledge of the genus Siccia Walker (= Aemene Walker, syn. n.) in the Afrotropics with descriptions of seventy-three new species, three new subspecies, and a check-list of Asiatic taxa of the genus (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae: Lithosiini), Ecologica Montenegrina 64, pp. 1-184 : 67

The S. microsticta species-group

Diagnosis. Most members of the species-group are externally very similar to those of the S. setis species-group and can be identified only by the genitalia structures. In the male genital capsule, the valva configuration is reminiscent of that of the S. setis species-group but distinguished by the weakly sclerotised and lobular cucullus (it is small, nodular and densely setose in the S. setis species-group), the sacculus having a nodular and setose or spinulose distal process and a smooth dorsal margin (whereas in the S. setis species-group, the sacculus has a lobular distal process and a dorsal margin bearing an elongate cluster of spinules), and the ventral costal lobe being very short and smooth or bearing tiny denticles (whereas it bears long spinules in the S. setis species-group). Compared to the S. setis species-group, the phallus of the S. microsticta species-group is more elongate and less distally dilated, and the vesica bears a row of several thin cornuti whereas only fields of graniculi are present in the S. setis species-group. The female genitalia configurations of the two species-groups are similar but in the S. microsticta species-group, the lateral subostial lobes are setose or spinulose and shorter but protrude further into the ductus bursae, and the appendix bursae is vestigial.