Acronicta Ochsenheimer, 1816

Han, H. L. & Kononenko, V. S., 2010, New species of the genera Acronicta Ochsenheimer, 1816 and Craniophora Snellen, 1867 from China with notes on synonymy and checklist (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae: Acronictinae), Zootaxa 2678 (1), pp. 48-68 : 49

Genus Acronicta Ochsenheimer, 1816

Acronicta Ochsenheimer 1816 , Die Schmetterlinge von Europa, 4: 62. Type-species: Phalaena leporina Linnaeus, 1758 [Europe].

Synonymy: Apatele Hübner, [1806] , suppr.; Apatele Hübner, [1808] , suppr.; Acronyctia Meigen, 1813 , misspell.; Semaphora Guenée, 1814 ; Apatelae Ochsenheimer, 1816 , unavail.; Apatele Hübner, [1818] , unavail.; Triaena Hübner, 1818 (subgenus); Jocheaera Hübner [1820] 1816 (subgenus); Pharetra Hübner, [1820] 1816 , preocc. (Bolten, 1798 [Brachiopoda]); Apatele Hübner, 1822 ; Acronycta Treitschke, 1825 , emend.; Apatela Stephens, 1829 , misspell.; Hyboma Hübner, [1829] 1816 (subgenus); Cometa Sodoffsky, 1837 , replacement name.; Sematophora Agassiz, [1848] , emend.; Cuspidia Chapman, 1890 ; Viminia Chapman, 1890 (subgenus); Chamaepora Warren, 1909 ; Molybdonycta Sugi, 1979 (subgenus); Hylonycta Sugi, 1979 (subgenus); Euviminia Beck, 1966 ; Aneuviminia Beck, 1966 ; Paraviminia Beck, 1966 ; Subacronycta Kozhantshikov, 1950 (subgenus).

Diagnosis. Wingspan 26–58 mm. Antennae of both sexes filiform, in male shortly ciliate; frons convex, rarely smooth; eyes large, naked; labial palps moderate, compressed, the 3 rd segment short; vein M 2 in hindwing reduced. Forewing relatively narrow, grey or grey-brown with black cryptic pattern often resembling bark of trees. In male genitalia, uncus straight or sickle-shaped; in some species scaphium expressed, sclerotised; tegumen relatively wide; juxta plate-like, variable in shape; valva usually with parallel margins, rounded at apex; sacculus rather massive, in distal part in most cases with sclerotised edge which continues as saccular extension, often separated from valva or enormously large. Aedeagus large; vesica usually tubular, armed with moderate or short spine-like or plate-like cornuti. In female genitalia, papillae anales quadrangular; anterior and posterior apophyses moderate, antrum shallow, weakly sclerotised; ductus variable in length, often ribbed; corpus bursae saccate, almost equal to ductus, with single signum.

Larvae of most species are dendrophilous and polyphagous, they feed on various trees or bushy plants, in the subgenus Viminia larvae feed predominantly on herbaceous plants; some are widely polyphagous.

The genus is subdivided into 9 subgenera: Acronicta , Triaena , Hyboma , Jocheaera , Viminia , Molybdonycta , Hylonycta and Plataplecta (Kozhanchikov 1950; Sugi 1979). The genus and the subfamily are not very popular among Noctuidae researchers, the revision the Holarctic fauna of Acronicta is highly needed.

The genus includes about 160 species distributed mainly in the boreal and cool temperate zones of the Holarctic, with 63 species in the Palaearctic and 95 in the Nearctic, several species are known from the Oriental and Ethiopian regions. In the Palaearctic, most species are concentrated in the zone broad-leaved and evergreen forests of China, Korea, Japan and the south of the Russian Far East. The genus Acronicta is especially diverse in China: 50 species of 63 (84% of the Palaearctic species) are known from here.