Genus Katha Moore, 1878

Moore, 1878, Proceedings of the General Meetings for Scientific Business of the Zoological Society of London, 1878: 16.

Type species: Bombyx helvola Hübner, [1803] 1796 (= deplana Esper, 1787).

Diagnosis: Morphologically, Katha Moore is closely similar to genus Tarika Moore. Both the genera are diagnosed by long and almost unicoloured forewings; in male genitalia both valvae present with an ovoid costal process, a hook – like distal saccular process (long in Katha brevivalva and K. magnata), and juxta lacks an apical process. Both genera are distinct from each other in the following characters: presence of numerous, spine-like cornuti at the base of vesica, and short, wide, triangular harpe in Tarika, and an absent harpe, vesica with few strongly built spines and spined plates in most species of Katha. However, one of the either character of vesica may be absent in some species of Katha.