Masalia Moore, 1881

Matov, Alexej, Zahiri, Reza & Holloway, Jeremy D., 2008, The Heliothinae of Iran (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), Zootaxa 1763, pp. 1-37 : 23

Genus Masalia Moore, 1881

Type species: Masalia radiata Moore, 1881

Synonymy: Pradatta Moore, 1881 , Curubasa Moore, 1881 , Lecerfia Dumont, 1920 Taxonomic note: we treat Masalia here as a separate genus, revised by Seymour (1972).

Because the Iranian species of Masalia are very similar externally, a brief key is given below for their identification:

1 (2). Forewings ground colour is olive-brown; the discal cell is pure white in its distal half Masalia albida 2 (1). Forewings ground colour is reddish-brown; the discal cell is not pure white even partly.................... 3 3 (4). All forewing veins are reddish-brown; the discal cell is yellow-white; there is a narrow yellow-white stripe between veins R 5 and M 1 and a broad stripe between veins CuA 1 and CuA 2, also a yellowwhite wedge-shaped stroke between veins M 3 and CuA 1 .................... Masalia perstriata fuscostriata 4 (3). Forewing veins R 4, R 5, M+M 2 and M 3 are white; the discal cell is reddish-brown; there are no yellow-white stripes or wedges between the veins of forewings ....................................... Masalia philbyi