Sceliodes

Name

Sceliodes Guenée, 1854

Type species: Sceliodes mucidalis Guenée, 1854

Synonyms

• Daraba Walker, 1859
• Eretria Snellen, 1880

Overview

Sceliodes consists primarily of the two species treated here, S. cordalis and S. laisalis, which respectively are distributed in Australia-New Zealand and Africa. A species in Madagascar, S. raondry (Viette), is not reported to have economic importance.

Sceliodes is closely related to Leucinodes: they share a similar wing pattern as well as the shape of the valvae and the homologous location of the fibulaFibula:
Any projection on the face of the valva (not including the saccular process, if any).
(in Leucinodes there often is a second fibulaFibula:
Any projection on the face of the valva (not including the saccular process, if any).
emerging from the distal sacculusSacculus:
The ventro-basal area of the valva.
).

The African species, Sceliodes laisalis, is sometimes cited in the genus Daraba Walker. Meyrick (1933) differentiated Daraba from Sceliodes based on its rounded (not conical) fronsFrons:
The front of the head, between the eyes.
and the shape of the palpi in laisalis. Since these characters vary in the Leucinodes group and S. laisalis shares a greater number of features with S. cordalis, such as wing pattern and genitalia, we recognize the synonymy of Daraba with Sceliodes.

References

Meyrick 1933Meyrick 1933:
Meyrick E. 1933. Exotic Microlepidoptera. Vol. IV. Taylor and Francis, London.