OF WASHINGTON, VOLUME XIX, 1917 137 



A NOTE ON THE TORTRICID GENITALIA. 



BY CARL HEINRICH, 

 Specialist in Forest Lepidoptera, U. S. Bureau of Entomology. 



In his "Hand-book of the British Lepidoptera" (1895), Meyrick 

 separates the two Tortricid families Epiblemidae (Olethreutidae), 

 and Tortricidae by the presence or absence of hair on the lower 

 median veins of the hind wings, and by the development or non- 

 development of the uncus of the male genitalia, characterizing 

 the two families as follows : 



Epiblemidae; lower median vein of hind wing hairy towards 

 base; uncus not developed. 



Tortricidae; lower median vein of hind wing not hairy towards 

 base (except Sparganothis) ; uncus developed. 



In as much as the basal pectin on the hind wings is found in 

 several Tortricid genera (Sparganothis, Amorbia, Synnoma) as 

 well as in the Olethreutidae (Epiblemidae), such a striking difference 

 as the presence or absence of a developed uncus, if constant, would 

 be a valuable character for defining the- limits or the two families 

 which all authorities accept as natural groups. In his later 

 works, however ("Revision of Australian Tortricina," 1910-1911, 

 and "Genera Insectorum, Tortricidae," 1913), Meyrick' makes 

 no mention of genitalia and as far as I know no one else has 

 criticized his original statement. 



In an effort to find some adult characters to match with cer- 

 tain structural differences in the larvae I have had occasion of late 

 to examine the male genitalia of a number of Olethreutids and found 

 to my surprise that a well developed uncus was quite a common 

 occurrence in that family. Six geno-types (Olethreutes arcuella, 

 Ancylis laetana, Enharmonia woberiana, Proteopteryx eimtrghittnn, 

 Bactra lanceolana, Eucosma similana, (type of the Hubner's 

 Epinotid) and Rhopobota naevana all show the part prominently 

 developed. It is absent or rudimentary in a majority of the 

 species now listed under Eucosma. In E. raga/mti \Ylsm., fae- 

 nella L. and invicta Wlsm. it is merely a rounded hairy prominence 

 at the end of the integument. 



In E. biluniana Haworth, E. castaneana Wlsm., and E. agricolana 

 Wlsm. it is short and bifurcated, while in'stigiana Dyur and 

 vestaliana Zell. it is long, bifid, and heavily chitinized. In several 

 species of the genus Olethreutes it is quite prominent, taking 

 various fantastic shapes. Proteopteryx emarginana \Ylsm. has 

 a long narrowly spatulate uncus, while l>olli<nm Slingerland, listed 

 under this genus, has none, and P. <l<ln<l<tna Clem, has the uncus 

 long and bifid with the extremities well spread apart. <>n the 

 other hand the uncus is much less prominent on Tnrtri.f 



