Clepsis Guenée
Type species: rusticana Treitschke = senecionana Hübner
DIAGNOSIS
External characters:
Venation:
venation Clepsis spectrana
Forewing: All veins are separate.
Hindwing: All veins are separate.
Forewing shape and markings:
examples of Clepsis adults
Forewing with costa curved basally, then weakly so, less in female than in male. Apex short; rounded in males, pointed in females of some species. Costal fold present in males of many species. The forewing ground colour is ochreous to brownish; in some species refractive scales are present. Markings, if present, are typical of Tortricinae, but basal blotch showing a tendency to atrophy.
Sexual dimorphism:
In males, the antennae are more or less distinctly dentate and bristled, in females they are simple. In males of many species, the forewing has a costal fold. The forewings of females are unicolorous in many species.
Additional characters:
Subgenital segment in males with specialized sclerites; distal portion of sternite develops variable areas of scent scales.
Genitalia:
Male:
male genitalia C. consimilana ; male genitalia C. spectrana ; male genitalia C. senecionana
Uncus varying from slender to very broad, flattened dorso-ventrally; tegumen in some species very broad; gnathos arms simple or with various prominences, often armed with numerous spines; terminal plate well-developed. Valva shape species specific, with terminal portion often well differentiated, large sclerite of disc and variable plicate area; sacculus simple or with processes, usually tapering terminally, without free termination or with a postmedian dorsal plate developed; transtilla bipartite, variable in shape, broadly fused with disc sclerite basally, expanding and spined medially, in many species forming a beak like prominence. Aedeagus usually simple, with coecum penis and caulis moderate; cornuti spiniform.
Female:
female gen. C. consimilana ; female gen. C. spectrana ; female gen. C. senecionana
Sterigma with well developed dorsal concavity and usually slender lateral parts; antevaginal portion small or atrophying; antrum membranous or with distinct internal sclerite, more or less distanced from anterior portion of sterigma; inception of ductus seminalis anterior to antrum or from its dorsal surface; cestum in several species well developed, in those with coiled ductus bursae also swung; signum of capitate type, but in many species more or less reduced.
Early stages:
Eggs are deposited in small groups on the upper surface of the leaves or on the bark. Larvae make hibernacula and shelters or utilize the shelters of other leaf-deforming insects. They are brownish, greenish or yellowish in colour. Swatschek, 1958, provides the following diagnosis based on chaetotaxy of 7 Palaearctic species.
Spiracles of abdominal segments 2-7 not larger than the bases of SV1 setae situated above them, if larger, SV unisetose on the ninth abdominal segment or on eighth abdominal segment D1 setae further apart than D2 setae. SV group on segments 1, 2 and 7 trisetose. V setae not further apart on ninth than on eighth abdominal segment. Double crowns of crochets on the abdominal legs.
Pupae are brown or blackish.
Biology:
One to several generations yearly, in Palaearctic Region usually two; hibernation in larval stage. The larvae are oligophagous or polyphagous. The food plants are various shrubs and trees including conifers. The number of generations per year varies in the different species.
Distribution:
The genus occurs in the Palaearctic, Nearctic, Neotropical and Oriental Regions.