THE THYRIDIDAE (LEPIDOPTERA) OF 

 AFRICA AND ITS ISLANDS 



A TAXONOMIC AND ZOOGEOGRAPHIC STUDY 

 By P. E. S. WHALLEY 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Synopsis ........... 3 



Introduction .......... 4 



Acknowledgements ......... 4 



Morphology of the Thyrididae ....... 5 



Description of the family ........ 13 



Biology ........... 13 



The subfamilies of the Thyrididae ...... 14 



Key to the subfamilies ......... 16 



World distribution of the genera represented in Africa and its 



islands ........... 17 



Geographical distribution of Thyrididae in Africa and its islands 17 



Species in the Ethiopian Region in relation to other faunal regions 23 



Check-list of Thyrididae of Africa and its islands ... 24 



Species and genera transferred to other families ... 27 



Definition of terms used ........ 28 



Abbreviations .......... 29 



Names of countries and towns ....... 30 



Key to the genera based on males ...... 30 



Key to the genera based on females ...... 32 



Taxonomic section : 



a. Argyrotypinae ......... 34 



b. Pachythyrinae ......... 47 



c. Striglinae .......... 51 



d. Siculinae .......... 84 



i. Rhodoneurini ......... 84 



ii. Opulini .......... 106 



Maps ............ 185 



References ........... 192 



Index ............ 195 



SYNOPSIS 



All the 172 known species and subspecies of Thyrididae (Lepidoptera) from Africa and its 

 islands are dealt with in this work. One hundred and twenty-seven of these species are described 

 and figured, this includes 11 new genera, 56 new species and 10 new subspecies. The remaining 

 45 species have been dealt with previously (Whalley, 1967, 1968) and are only briefly mentioned 

 here. An account of the morphology, classification and zoogeography of the family is given 

 together with keys to the genera and species and distribution maps of all the species and 

 subspecies. 



