Introduction

Summary

The present catalogue includes 7433 names of taxonomic enteties (including nomenclaturally unavailable names). Among them are 4412 species currently accepted as valid in 532 genera of and 8 species of . In 1892 Kirby listed 850 Notodontidae in 231 genera. The last comprehensive catalogues listed 2358 species in 368 genera of Notodontidae s.str. (Gaede, 1934), 392 species in 40 genera of Dioptidae (Bryk, 1930) and 100 species in 21 genera of Thaumetopoeidae (Kiriakoff, 1970) – totally 3389 species in 429 genera. 27 cases of new synonymies on level and 72 new synonymies on species group level are reported and 16 status of taxa are changed. One Neotype and 24 Lectotypes are designated to stabilize the nomenclature. Due to recognized homonymies 4 replacement names are proposed. The catalogue include 107 new combinations of Notodontidae. One genus, Crambometra Prout, 1915 with three species, is transferred to Geometridae, Ennominae. Three species, Dasychira nora Pagenstecher, 1903, Ilema henleyi Warren & Rothschild, 1905 and Gissarus relictus (Kozhantshikov, 1950), are transferred from Lymantriidae to Notodontidae.

The family Notodontidae

The Notodontidae represent a family in the , the largest super family of the with about 50,000 currently recognized species worldwide. Noctuoide are characterized by a methathoracic tympanal organ in the imagines. A single character to characterize notodontid imagines (in the present used classification) has not yet been found. The larvae are characterized by presence of microsetae MD1 and MD2 on segment Ab1 and etra setae or setal group on segment Ab10. Miller (1991) placed the Thaumetopoeidae and the Dioptidae as subfamilies in the Notodontidae and separated the Oenosandridae as a distinct family from the Thaumetopoeidae. However , and Platychasmatinae standing phylogenetically somewhat far from the rest of the Notodontidae. The old-world distributed Thaumetopoeinae shares several characters with the Lymantriidae and might be more close to this unit (now placed in the as a subfamily). The Platychasmatinae, a small and unique subfamily (quadrifid forewing venation, green coloured forewings, male genitalia like noctuids, larva hairy) might be a bridge to the , as they share several characters with them. The Platychasmatinae are restricted to Asia. Dioptinae are a distinct unit by external appearance of the imagines, host plants of the from the rest of the Notodontidae, restricted to America, but sharing some important characters with the other Notodontidae, including genitalia morphology. Miller, 2009: 7 treats it as the sister-group of the Nystaleinae.

7 18 subfamilies are currently recognized within the Notodontidae. For the application of family group names, most cases were followed by the work of Speidel & Naumann, 2005 (with a few additions). This work also gives a good overview of the history of the classification of the Noctuoidea families including the Notodontidae. Aspects of molecular phylogenetics of the Noctuoidea including a few examples of Notodontidae are discussed in Zahiri et. alii 2011. It was beyond the focus of this work to establish a new classification in the Notodontidae.

Platychasmatinae

Dudusiinae Scranciinae Ceirinae nOctuidae . Cerurinae Dicranurinae Hemiceratinae Nystaleinae

Thaumetopoeinae Notodontidae s. str. Disphragiinae OenOsandridae Rifarginae Ptilodontinae

Phalerinae DioptDioptini inae Josiini Roseminae

Fig. 1. Relationship of Noctuidae, Oenosandridae and the Notodontidae (including their subfamilies) – simple, two dimensional view.

The growth of our knowledge of the Notodontidae (using the example of the taxa described since Linnaeus) is not homogeneous (Figs. 1-5) in time, geographical region and in the various subfamilies of the Notodontidae. A saturation of the number of species known to science has not yet been reached. The number of described taxa that have been recognized as synonymous to known species (virtual knowledge growth) appears to be – except for the small group of Thaumetopoeinae – but not to increase exponentially.

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