78 



H. STEMPFFER 



Genus EBEPIUS Hemming 



Ebepins Hemming, 1964, Annot. Lep. (4) : 141. Type-species : Poultonia ochrascens Neave, 



by monotypy. 

 Poultonia Neave, 1904, Novit. zool. 11 : 336 (invalid homonym). 

 Deloneura Trimen (partim) ; Aurivillius, 1920 : 347. 



Head short and wide ; eyes smooth ; palpi not short as stated by Neave in his description, 

 but protruding considerably beyond the frons, second segment much swollen, third segment 

 frail, acuminate ; antennae half as long as the costa, gradually becoming thicker from the base 

 to the poorly differentiated club ; thorax robust ; rj fore tarsus unsegmented, bearing below 

 a double row of short spines. 



Wing venation (Text-fig. 260). There are several inaccuracies in the figure given by Neave 

 (I.e. : 336) ; on the fore wing vein 3 arises before, and not from the lower angle of the cell, 

 and vein 9 which branches out of 7. is omitted. On the fore wing in the £ a secondary sexual 

 character is present in the form of an ochreous line below and alongside the swelling in vein 1. 



Male genitalia (Text-fig. 76). Uncus bilobed, the lobes subtriangular with rounded apices 

 and separated by a median depression ; subunci slender, curved ; tegumen subtriangular, 

 connected to the uncus by a very slightly chitinized zone ; vinculum narrow, prolonged to form 

 a short saccus ; the small lower fultura secures the penis to the base of the valves ; valves 

 oblong with rounded apices ; the penis resembles that of some species of Epitola (e.g. post- 

 humus), narrow at the base with, on its dorsal surface, rounded expansions separated by a deep 

 longitudinal groove, thence gradually tapering to a pointed apex ; lobes of uncus and apices 

 of valves pilose. 



I do not see in the wing venation or in the genital armature any important 

 character permitting the separation of Ebepius from Deloneura. This was also the 

 opinion of Aurivillius (1920 : 346). 



The egg, caterpillar and chrysalis of P. ochrascens have been described by T. H. E. 

 Jackson (1937, Trans. R. ent. Soc. Lond. 86 : 209). The caterpillar is black, clothed 

 with long, black hair, and resembles the caterpillar of certain Lymantriidae. It 

 lives among ants of the genus Crematogaster , which seem to avoid it. It probably 

 feeds on bark or on micro-fungi. 



Fig. 76. Ebepius ochrascens (Neave), $ genitalia. 



