Genus Armacia Stål
Armacia hyalinata (Donovan)
Genus Armacia Stål 1862: 70
Type
species: Ricania clara Stål 1859 (Pouynipet Island, Micronesia)
Known species: Twelve species distributed primarily from Indonesia to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. One species, Armacia hyalinata (Donovan) is known from far North Queensland.
Notes: The
only Australian species, A. hyalinata, is a beautiful and delicate creature just
under 1 cm in length with distinctive tegmen venation in which R branches near the base of
the tegmen and R1 then runs contiguously with Sc to the pterostigma.
The presence of A. hyalinata in Australia was originally
reported by Donovan (1805)
who gave “Botany Bay” as its locality. Melichar (1898a)
listed “Port Jackson”, presumably based on Donovan’s record. Kirkaldy (1913)
and Melichar (1923)
listed “New South Wales”, again presumably based on Donovan’s record. The
discovery of Donovan type specimens in the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney (Fletcher, et al. 2003),
unfortunately did not include specimens of A. hyalinata so this record remains
dubious. However, specimens of A. hyalinata in AM
and ASCU confirm its presence in far North
Queensland (Daintree National Park and Iron Range).