SYMBRENTHIA SILANA DE NICEVILLE, A GOOD 
SPECIES (LEPIDOPTERA: NYMPH ALIDAE ) 
By Nicholas W. Gillham 
Biological Laboratories, Harvard University 
While revising the Nymphalid tribe Vanessini I have 
had occasion to make a number of genitalic preparations 
from males and females of most of the species belonging 
to the genus Symbrenthia 1 . A study of these preparations 
has revealed that Symbrenthia silana de Niceville is a 
distinct species, and not a subspecies of Symbrenthia nip- 
handa Moore as Fruhstorfer 2 maintains. The males of 
both species have very distinct genitalia and can also be 
told apart by several minute differences in the external 
facies. Females of silana were net available for study in 
the material at hand so the following diagnosis is ap- 
plicable to the males of the two species only. 
Symbrenthia niphanda Moore 
Figs. 1-2 
Symbrenthia niphanda Moore, 1872. Proe. Zool. Soc. 
London, 1872:559. Type locality: Sikkim, India, de- 
scribed from a $ and a $ . 
External facies. 1 . Eyespot between M 2 and M 3 on 
underside of hindwing only slightly elongate as compared 
with those on either side of it. 2. Marginal green lunules 
on underside of hindwing crescentic in shape with an 
orange spot separating them from the blue marginal spot 
at the outer angle. 3. Forewing below bearing five or 
six black spots between Cu 2 and 2dA. 
Male genitalia (Figs. 1 & 2). 1. Aedeagus short and 
thick. 2. Saccus very short and narrow. 3. Valve bear- 
'Most of the material examined is in the collection of the U.S. Na- 
tional Museum and is under the care of Mr. William D. Field, who 
was kind enough to let me make full use of it. 
2 Fruhstorfer, H. 1912. In Seitz, The Macrolepidoptera of the World, 
9:533. 
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