Adult Steniini are characterised by long legs, and males typically have a slender, long abdomen. In the male genitalia, the uncus with its bifid chaetae is single or bicapitate (in Loxostegopsis and Tatobotys) or entirely split (in Metasia). The costa of the valva is concave or straight, in some taxa weakly convex. The valva itself is simple and usually lacks a fibula or exhibits a single fibula originating from base of valva; in the Duponchelia group,[2] two or three small fibulae are present at the base of the valva. The fibula and the dorsodistal sacculus or its extension are non-overlapping. The phallus has a caecum. In the female genitalia, a signum is generally absent except in Bradina and Perisyntrocha, where it forms a toothed arc. The ostium and ductus bursae lack any other sclerotization; the absence of sclerotisations in the corpus bursae is considered a synapomorphy of Steniini.[3]
In the Duponchelia group, the forewing has vein Rs1 stalked with Rs2+3. A recurrent character in several but not all species of this group is the fovea in the male forewing at the distal end of the discal cell. In the male genitalia the dorsal vinculum exhibits a pair of elongate hairpencils. The ductus bursae in the female genitalia is very short. In the caterpillars, the mesothoracic SD2 seta is fine and hairlike.[2][3]
Food plants
Steniini caterpillars generally appear to feed on detritus. In Southeast Asia, the larvae of the Duponchelia group are detritivores in marshes and intertidal environments of mangrove swamps. They are often associated with the Avicennia zone of mangrove forests, which is inundated at high tides.[2][4]
Particular food records are known for only a few species:
Hymenoptychis sordida caterpillars spin silk galleries among algae and litter in the intertidal zone of mangroves and generally feed on green algae, decomposing litter, wet rotted timber, and Avicennia fruits.[4]
^Leraut, Patrice (2012). Moths of Europe, Zygaenids, Pyralids 1 and Brachodids. Verrières-le-Buisson, France: N.A.P. Editions. p. 599.
^Hiremath, I. G.; Vastard, S.; Patil, S. J. (1990). "Lamprosema charesalis (Walker) (Ledidoptera: Pyraustidae), a new pest of turmeric, Curcuma domestica Val. in India". Tropical Pest Management. 36 (1): 74. doi:10.1080/09670879009371440.
^Paine, R. W. (1964). "The banana scab moth, Nacoleia octasema (Meyrick): its distribution, ecology and control". South Pacific Commission Technical Paper. 145: i–vi, 1–70.
^Hinckley, A. D. (1964). "Ecological notes on the larvae of some pyraloid moths in Fiji". Pacific Insects, Honolulu. 6 (2): 234–241.
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