Buakea
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| Moyal et al., 2011 |
Buakea is a genus of butterflies from the family of the owl butterflies (Noctuidae).
features
The moths of the genus are small and reach a wingspan of 18 to 27 millimeters. The antennae are thread-like in both sexes. The color of the body ranges from whitish brown to grayish brown. The head and thorax are covered with long hair. In the males, the drawing on the forewings is more contrasting than in the females. There is a typical white line on the basal artery of the cell on the forewings. This is club-shaped distally . The veins are covered with whitish scales . With the exception of the kidney defect in Buakea kaeuae , there are no defects . The color of the forewings ranges from whitish brown to gray-brown. A blackish transverse band runs diagonally in front of the wing's outer edge. A broad band runs in front of it, which is a little lighter than the rest of the forewing. The hind wings are pale gray-brown to whitish gray, especially distal there are gray scales along the veins. Ring flaws are not created.
In the males, the uncus is narrow, spatulate and tapers towards the tip. On the tegumen there are small to medium-sized, rounded peniculi (brush-shaped processes). The vinculum has a well-formed saccus. The valves have a heavily sclerotized costal margin, which grows distally and ends dorsally in a socket-like expansion that protrudes more or less ventrally. The cucullus is quite thin and elongated. The juxta is almost elliptical and hardly sclerotized. When viewed from below in the dorsoventral direction, it is usually only visible as a thick sclerotized line. The aedeagus is slightly curved. The vesica either has a cornutus or it is absent, in the latter case two groups of long, claw-shaped microcornuti are located near the tip of the penis.
In females, the corpus bursae is roughly the length of the ductus bursae. A sign is present or missing. The ductus bursae is only slightly sclerotized, the ostium bursae is almost ovoid. The post-vaginal plates are hardly sclerotized.
The caterpillars are small and in the last stage they reach a length of 25 to 35 millimeters. They are pale pink and without drawing.
The pupae have two diverging, dorsally directed spines on the cremaster .
distribution
The species of the genus Buakea are so far only known from Kenya and South Africa .
biology
The caterpillars live monophagous on various grasses, where they drill into the stems .
Systematics
The genus Buakea currently comprises three species:
- Buakea kaeuae Moyal et al., 2011
- Buakea obliquifascia Moyal et al., 2011
- Buakea venusta ( Hamspon , 1909)