Publ. 25. VII. 1911. 
CASTNIlDiE; SYNE MON. By Dr. K. Strand. 
1. Family: Castniidse. 
The family Castniidce is composed of a number of morphologically rather divergent groups. The 
Castnias proper, divided by Boisduval (1874—1875) into 4 genera (Castnia , Gazer a. Ortliia, Cerethes), all 
united into the genus Castnia by Westwood (1877) and Kirby (1892), are exclusively confined to America and 
are altogether tropical insects; they play a large part in the hot South and Central America, but have scarcely 
a representative in the United States even in the southern parts. The second group, containing the genus 
Synemon, occurs in Australia and consists of rather small and not numerous species; the third group, compose'I 
of the genera Tascina and Neocastina , contains three Indian species and shows only a slender connection 
with the other genera*). 
Many criteria which appear to connect the Australian Synemon with the American Castnia may possibly 
prove on closer examination to be due to convergence; e. g. the clubbed antenna, the repeatedly divided cell, 
etc. We are no doubt dealing with phylogenetically old groups, which in many respects recall the Cossids, 
Hepialids and Sesiids (Aegeriids). 
In addition to the distal thickening of the antenna we may specically mention as characters common 
to all Castniids the presence of the frenulum and the fact that on the hindwing vein 8 is present and is 
widely removed from 7, i. e. from the base of 6 + 7, and 5 is nearer to 4 than to 6. 
The Castniids fly in the hot sunshine with a very vigorous flight, somewhat recalling the Catocalids. 
The species provided with a proboscis drink at flowers and rest in thickets or on stones with the wings 
folded together roofwise, in which position they commonly resemble dry leaves or pieces of bark. The cYcf 
lie in wait for the ?? on the tops of bushes and especially on the tips of projecting twigs or the ends of 
boughs and will attack passing insects and often pursue them with great persistence. They pair by day and 
the eggs are laid, by means of a projectible ovipositor, in the inside of plants (stalks, orchid bulbs). The 
larvae, so far as known, are smooth, only provided with a few tufts of quite short bristles on the dorsum, 
with horny head and hard prothoracic plate. In the pupa the wing-cases, antennae and legs are very loosely 
connected and the abdomen is armed dorsally with semicircular rows of hooks. — The moths are rather shy 
and many species seem to be rare. 
Besides the Indo-Australian Begion the Castniids are only represented in the Old World on Madagascar 
and there only by the isolated genus Pemphiyostola Strand (with the single species P. synemonistis Strand.) 
Detailed descriptions of all the forms dealt with here I am publishing in “Archiv fur Naturgeschichte”, 
Jahrg. 1911, Bd. I, Suppl.-Heft. 
1. Genus: Synemon DU. 
Synemon differs from the other Castniids in the sharp and knob-like clubs of the antennae, as well 
as in the neuration, which especially differs from the following genus Tascina in having the cell on the 
forewing closed but on the hindwing open, whilst it shows far more agreement with the American Castnia. 
Forewing with closed cell divided by strong veins and with two dorsal veins; vein 3 twice as far from 2 as 
from 4, 5 further from 6 than from 4, 7 T 8 + 9 stalked, 8 into the apex, 10 and 11 from the anterior- 
margin of the cell. Hindwing with open cell and 2 dorsal veins; 4 nearer to 3 than to 5, 6 + 7 stalked, 
7 into the apex, 8 distinctly removed from 7 at the base. Antenna between the club and the head thin and 
delicate. Palpus with bristly hairs, first joint short, terminal joint long. Eyes large. Proboscis long and 
strong. Abdomen of the ?? very long, reaching far beyond the anal angle of the hindwing, that of the (TcT 
almost as thin as in a butterfly with the anal extremity strongly hairy. The colouring of the hindwing is 
mostly brightly coloured as in Catocala , that of the forewing grey-brown, adapted to the bark of the trees on 
which the insects rest. They fly freely by day, visit flowers, and many species recall in their flight Hesperids 
of the genus Telesto. Synemon is confined to Australia, in the southern and south-western parts of which it 
has attained its greatest development. 
S. sophia Ad. White (la). ? up to 45, 37—42 mm. Forewing brown to black with 2 grey-whitish sophia. 
oblique bands; hindwing with large orange-yellow spots, consisting of two transverse rows and a discal spot. 
— Australia, especially in the south. 
S. parthenoides Fldr. (9d) is very similar to sophia , but the ? still larger (50 mm.), the forewing a 
little narrower, the white transverse bands on the forewing broader, more regular, more sharply marked and 
forming a V-shaped mark, and the yellow spots of the submarginal series on the underside of the hindwing 
entirely or almost entirely confluent behind the middle with those of the preceding row. Adelaide, Swan 
Biver. — partita nom. nov. (9d) 1 name the Synemon form figured and described by Boisduval 1858 (in Hist, partita 
Nat. Lept. Het. I, p. 550) as parthenoides, which has nothing to do with the true typical parthenoides (cf. fig. 
cit.). From “New Holland”. 
*) This third group has been separated from the Castniids as a distinct family, Neocastniidae. A fourth genus placed 
here by Kirby, Hecatesia, we treat (following Hampson) as belonging to the Agaristids (nearly allied to the Noctuids). 
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