Locastra Walker, 1859: 158

Ranjan, Rahul, Singh, Navneet & Kirti, Jagbir Singh, 2022, Review of the genus Locastra Walker (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae: Epipaschiinae) from India, with a new species and a new species record, Zootaxa 5169 (1), pp. 71-78 : 72

Genus Locastra Walker, 1859: 158

Type species: Eurois crassipennis Walker, 1857 [recte Locastra maimonalis Walker, [1859] 1858 , by subsequent designation by Hampson, 1896a: 470.

= Taurica Walker, [1866] 1865: 1268

Type species: Taurica muscosalis Walker, [1866] 1865: 1269 , by monotypy

Diagnosis: The members of the genus Locastra Walker, 1859 are robust and large-bodied moths with the forewing having a postmedial glandular costal lobe on the forewing ( Rong & Li 2017: 103, fig. 3) (except in L. pachylepidalis Hampson, 1896a ), the antenna of the male bears an extension on the scape (small to extremely large) that is absent in L. pachylepidalis . In the male genitalia, the juxta with band-like extensions between juxta base and ventral vinculum, lateral arm extending from each side of juxta base; the valva is simple, with widely convex ventral side and concave costal side, costa broad and strongly sclerotized, valva without any prominent process. Based on the extension of the scape, Locastra is divided, herein, into two species groups: the L. crassipennis species group and the L. muscosalis species group.

The L. crassipennis species group is characterised by a very large, recurved triangular extension of the scape.

- L. nigrilineata Rong & Li, 2017

- L. crassipennis ( Walker, 1857)

= Locastra maimonalis Walker, 1859

- L. ardua Swinhoe, 1902

= Locastra drucei Bethune-Baker, 1905

L. muscosalis species group is characterised by the extremely short, subglobose extension of the scape.

- L. muscosalis ( Walker, 1866)

= Locastra cristalis Hampson, 1893

= Taurica sikkima Moore, 1888

- L. bryalis Joannis, 1930

- L. subtrapezia Rong & Li, 2017

- L. viridis Rong & Li, 2017

- L. solivaga Rong & Li, 2017

- L. mizo Ranjan, Singh & Kirti , sp. nov.

Locastra pachylepidalis is an exception to the above grouping and is distinct from all its other congeners by the absence of the costal lobe and the scape extension. The placement of this species in the genus Locastra is doubtful and needs to be studied through examination of the male and female genitalia.

Distribution: China, North East India, Ceylon [ Sri Lanka], Burma [ Myanmar], Borneo, Bhutan, Rangoon, Sylhet [ Bangladesh] ( Hampson 1896a), Thailand, West Malaysia, Sumatra, Brunei, Sarawak ( Robinson et al. 1994), Nepal ( Yamanaka 1998), Korea ( Bae et al. 2008), Tibet, Japan, Sri Lanka ( Rong & Li 2017), Malaysia, Indonesia ( Chandra et al. 2019).