THE TAXONOMY OF THE DREPANINAE 



REPRESENTED IN CHINA, WITH AN 



ACCOUNT OF THEIR WORLD DISTRIBUTION 



(LEPIDOPTERA : DREPANIDAE) 



By A. WATSON 



CONTENTS 



Synopsis 

 Introduction 

 Distribution . 

 Key to Genera 

 Main Taxonomic Part 

 References . 

 Index 



Page 



3 

 3 

 6 



*4 



16 



145 

 149 



SYNOPSIS 



A review is given of the taxonomy and distribution of the 76 species of Chinese Drepaninae, 

 and the taxonomic status of a further 8 species is examined. The genera Agnidra, Albara, 

 Betalbara, Callicilix, Didymana, Nordstroemia and Pseudalbara are revised. A new genus, 

 Par albara, 14 new species and 10 new subspecies are described. 30 names are newly placed 

 in synonymy, three names are extracted from synonymy, and 31 changes in the combination 

 of species-group and generic names are made. A key to the genera of Drepaninae found in 

 China is given. The world distribution of the genera, species and subspecies of Drepaninae 

 represented in China is discussed. The species distribution is compared with that of the 

 Oretinae, the other subfamily of Drepanidae present in China. For purposes of this paper 

 China, Formosa and Tibet are included in the term ' China '. 



INTRODUCTION 



The British Museum (Natural History) has for several years possessed Drepaninae 

 material from Szechwan and adjacent provinces of China, chiefly from the collections 

 of Charles Oberthur and J. H. Leech. In the early 1960's I was able to study the 

 Drepaninae from the valuable collection made by the late Dr. H. Hone (see Gross, 

 1962), now housed in the Museum Alexander Koenig, in Bonn, Germany, which 

 includes examples from eastern and central provinces of China where little or no 

 previous collecting had been carried out. The collection at Bonn together with the 

 BM(NH) material and specimens from several European museums and the United 

 States National Museum have made possible this survey of the Drepaninae of China. 

 The opportunity has been taken to broaden the scope of this paper to include 

 related species from India, Japan and other areas associated zoogeographically with 



