The Noctuidae Catocalinae from New Caledonia 
and the New Hebrides (Lepidoptera) 
Pierre E. L. Viette 1 
The lepidopterous fauna of New Cale- 
donia and the New Hebrides has not been 
studied extensively. I have dealt elsewhere 
with the whole of the Rhopalocera (Viette, 
in press) and have prepared a catalogue of 
the known Heterocera from these regions 
(Viette, 1949). 
In this paper are presented means of deter- 
mining the known species of Noctuidae Ca- 
tocalinae and descriptions of male and fe- 
male genitalia which complete the original 
descriptions of these species. Material in the 
Department of Entomology of the National 
Museum of Paris has made this work possible. 
The subfamily Catocalinae is well repre- 
sented in New Caledonia and the New Heb- 
rides as it is in all warm regions but, as an 
effect of the relative poorness of the fauna of 
these regions, there are not very many species. 
Most of these species are known from south- 
ern Asia and the other Pacific archipelagoes. 
This subfamily is distinguished by having 
M 2 well developed in the posterior wings 
(Noctuidae Quadrifidae ) , Mi and M 2 more 
or less convergent toward their base, the 
middle tibiae with little spines, and the male 
retinaculum not having the shape of a small 
tongue. The venation is the same for the 
whole subfamily, for which reason it is de- 
scribed here: Ri is free; an areola is present; 
R2 arises from the apex of the areola as do 
Rs and the common stalk to R3 and R4; Mi 
arises from the superior angle of the medial 
cell or a little below; Ma and Cuia are sep- 
arated from the inferior angle. In the pos- 
1 Department of Entomology, National Museum 
of Natural History, Paris. Manuscript received 
April 1, 1949. 
terior wings, the medial cell extends through 
a third or a half of the wing; R and Mi arise 
from the same point, the superior angle of 
the medial cell; M 2 , Ma, and Cum are plainly 
separated from the inferior angle. 
Key to the Genera 
1. Meta thoracic tibiae without spines . . . 
Parallelia 
Metathoracic tibiae with spines 2 
2. Prothoracic tibiae without spines .... 3 
Prothoracic tibiae with spines 8 
3. Metathoracic tibiae with spines only be- 
tween the medial and the terminal 
spurs Lagoptera 
Metathoracic tibiae with spines only 
above the medial spurs 4 
4. Abdomen with hairs dorsally 5 
Abdomen with scales dorsally ...... 6 
5. Frons with a tuft of hairs dorsally . . Anua 
Frons without a tuft of hairs dorsally . . 
Achaea 
6. Posterior wings with a normal medial 
cell, extending to about the middle of 
the wing Mocis 
Posterior wings with a small medial cell, 
not extending one-third of the length 
of the wing 7 
7. Antennae reaching the third quarter of 
the costa Chalciope 
Antennae reaching the middle of the 
costa Grammodes 
8. Labial palpi with the second joint wid- 
ened, spatulate Phyllodes 
Labial palpi with the second joint 
normally formed Cocytodes 
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