Species Anthela asciscens (T.P. Lucas, 1891)

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Regional Maps

• Darala asciscens Lucas, T.P. 1891. On Queensland and other Australian Lepidoptera with descriptions of new species. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 2 6(2): 277-306 [287].
• Anthela tritonea Swinhoe, C. 1903. A revision of the Old World Lymantriidae in the National Collection. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 1903: 375-498 [448].

General References

Nielsen, E.S., Edwards, E.D. & Rangsi, T.V. (eds) 1996. Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera. Collingwood : CSIRO Publishing Vol. 4 xiv 529 pp. & CD-ROM. [259] (Note #473: Anthela asciscens (T.P. Lucas, 1891). The names A. magnifica (T.P. Lucas, 1891) and A. asciscens (T.P. Lucas, 1891) were applied differently by Turner (1921d). This may have been due to Lucas' confusion of the two cocoons in the original descriptions. We have chosen to apply the names to the species represented by Lucas' adult descriptions and adult syntypes rather than to those represented by the cocoons. This agrees with the potential lectotypes selected from Lucas' series of adults by N.B. Tindale but never published. The sac-like, hanging cocoon belongs to A. magnifica (T.P. Lucas) (which is a junior subjective synonym of A. stygiana (Butler, 1882)) and the attached, more loosely woven cocoon with projecting hairs belongs to the now less appropriately named A. asciscens (T.P. Lucas). This also agrees with the use of these names by Common (1990). Common (1990), however, confused the cocoons of A. ariprepes and A. xantharcha. A. ariprepes has a cocoon with projecting brown hairs while A. xantharcha has a hanging, sac-like cocoon of white silk without projecting hairs)

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