CHINESE DREPANINAE 7 



high degree of endemism possibly reflects the enhanced opportunities for speciation 

 in the varied ecological conditions resulting from the Cenozoic elevation of the 

 Himalayas and suggests that this part of south-eastern Asia can reasonably be 

 considered as the probable centre of origin for several Drepaninae genera. The 

 Papuan Subregion forms another centre of endemism in Tridrepana and Canucha — 

 possibly a secondary centre at least in Tridrepana which has a greater proportion 

 of endemic Indo-Chinese species than Papuan species. A pattern of distribution 

 similar to that in Tridrepana occurs in Oreta (Drepanidae, Oretinae) (see Watson, 

 1967). 



The small genus Cilix is known from Western Europe, the Mediterranean area 

 (including North Africa), the Middle East, Afghanistan, northern India, China, 

 Korea, Japan and south-eastern Russia ; a pattern which suggests a dispersal route 

 for the genus from a possible Indo-Chinese centre, where the greatest degree of 

 endemism occurs. The pre-Glacial pattern of distribution might, however, have 

 revealed a more northerly route or a much broader North-South distribution. 



Specific distribution. (See Table 1.) A total of 76 species of Drepaninae have so 

 far been described from China. A further one or perhaps two species of the genus 

 Drapetodes occur there but have not yet been described. Fifty-three species are 

 endemic to the Indo-Chinese Subregion. Sixteen species are shared by the Indo- 

 Chinese Subregion and the Manchurian Subregion of the Palaearctic Region, with 

 two of these species, Drepana curvatula and Palaeodrepana harpagula, extending 

 into Western Europe and the British Isles. Three species are found in both the 

 Indo-Chinese and Malayan Subregions ; one species occurs in the Indo-Chinese, 

 Malayan and Indian Subregions ; one species is common to the Indo-Chinese and 

 Malayan Subregions and Celebes, and one to the Indo-Chinese, Indian and Malayan 

 Subregions and Celebes. One species is Manchurian but is not known from else- 

 where in China. The species of Drepaninae found in China are thus predominantly 

 endemic to the Indo-Chinese Subregion, with incursions chiefly into the adjacent 

 Malayan and Indian Subregions of the Oriental Region and into the Manchurian 

 Subregion of the Palaearctic Region. Only four of the Chinese species extend 

 beyond these limits ; they are Drepana curvatula and Palaeodrepana harpagula 

 which are found in Western Europe, and Tridrepana fulvata and Canucha specularis 

 whose ranges extend as far east as Celebes. Except for specularis, each of the latter 

 four species is represented at the periphery of its range by a subspecies different 

 from that occuring in China. 



Within China, judging from the high degree of endemism and the presence of 

 several groups of closely related species, the provinces of Szechwan and Yunnan 

 apparently form a centre of evolutionary activity for many genera (the Yunnan 

 Centre of de Lattin, 1957), with a second, less well defined centre in the hilly eastern 

 provinces of Chekiang and Fukien. 



The distribution of the Chinese species of Oreta Walker and Cyclura Warren 

 (Drepanidae, Oretinae) (see Watson, 1967), is comparable with that of the Drepaninae 

 except that no species of Oreta, or indeed Oretinae, occurs in Western Europe and 

 there is apparently no zoogeographical match in the Drepaninae for the Nearctic 



