Spirama is a genus of moths in the family Erebidae first described by Achille Guenée in 1852.
Spirama | |
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Spirama sp., Sri Lanka | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Superfamily: | Noctuoidea |
Family: | Erebidae |
Tribe: | Hypopyrini |
Genus: | Spirama Guenée in Boisduval & Guenée, 1852[1] |
Synonyms | |
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Antennae usually minutely fasciculate (bundled) in the male. Tibia not hairy and mid-tibia spined. Palpi with second joint reaching vertex of head and third joint naked. Thorax and abdomen smoothly clothed with hair. Forewings with nearly rectangular apex. Hindwings with vein 5 from lower angle of cell, which is rather short.[2]
Some of the species, such as S. helicina, S. indenta, S. recessa, S. remota and S. sumbana, have a pattern on the wings that looks like the frontal view of the face of a snake with slightly opened mouth. This pattern is more clearly discernible in females. It may intimidate potential predators and dissuade them from attacking.[3]