Genus Tarika Moore, 1878

Tarika Moore, 1878, Proceedings of the general meetings for scientific business of the Zoological Society of London, 1878: 14.

Type species: Lithosia varana Moore, 1865, by subsequent designation by Kirby (1892).

Diagnosis. Tarika (Figs 3–56) is morphologically very similar to Katha (Figs 1, 2) but has a male antenna more sparsely ciliate with shorter cilia. The male genital capsules of the genera have the same ground plan and the main difference between them is found in their vesica structures: in Katha (Fig. 69), the vesica is very short, membranous, has only a small subbasal diverticulum but bears a long and robust, spike-like cornutus with a long base extending into the base of the vesica ejaculatorius. Unlike in Katha, the vesica of Tarika (Figs 70–113) is markedly longer and has several utricular diverticula, some of which are covered with graniculi and/or bear compact clusters of short bur robust spines or/and robust claw-shaped cornuti, while the base of the vesica ejaculatorius has no sclerotisations. In the female genitalia of Tarika (Figs 121–144), the ventral margin of the ostium bursae is membranous or gelatinous whereas the 7 th sternite of Katha (Fig. 120) has a rugose, horseshoe-shaped antevaginal plate edging the ostium bursae ventrally. In Tarika, the ductus seminalis originates from the anterior section of the corpus bursae anteriorly or laterally whereas in Katha, it originates from the posterior section of the corpus bursae laterally. Additionally, the corpus bursae of Katha bears a longitudinal stripe-like signum with irregular margins, whereas most species of Tarika lack the signum.

Distribution. Species of the genus are distributed in the eastern Palaearctic and northern Oriental Realms.

The problematic taxa described from Taiwan Island

Two Taiwanese taxa described by Matsumura (1927) from yellow-coloured females, Lithosia formosicola Matsumura, 1927 and Lithosia tomponis Matsumura, 1927 are highly likely females of Cernyia ranrunensis (Matsumura, 1927), comb. n. and/or Tarika emberifera (Wu, Fu & Shih, 2021), both described from male specimens. However, it will be possible to introduce new synonymies only after the genitalia structures of the type specimens of formosicola and tomponis have been studied.