The Australian Arctiid Moths (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea: Erebidae) with Emphasis on Creatonotos Gangis - Peter Hendry
The Australian Arctiid Moths (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea: Erebidae) with emphasis on Creatonotos gangis - Peter Hendry While many of our non-scientific readers will find parts of this article heavy going, I urge them to bear with me as many interesting facts are contained herein. In the Checklist of Lepidoptera of Australia (1996), (herein referred to as the Checklist) the worldwide superfamily Noctuoidea contains nine families, Oenosandridae, Doidae, Notodontidae, Thyretidae, Lymantriidae, Arctiidae, Aganaidae, Herminiidae and Noctuidae with Doidae and Thyretidae noted as not recorded from Australia. Of these the Arctiidae contain 95 genera and 303 species. The Checklist divides the Arctiidae into three subfamilies: Lithosiinae, 78 genera, 218 species, Arctiinae, 13 genera, 33 species, and Ctenuchinae, four genera, 52 species. The Ctenuchinae are further divided into two tribes, Syntomiini and Eucchromiini. In the Checklist, Edwards states that the subfamily classification of the Arctiidae is very uncertain and further studies will change our view. In recent years overseas studies have pointed to a complete reordering of the superfamily Noctuoidea. Zahiri et al. (2011)(a), continuing on from previous work reordered the Noctuoidea into six families, Oenosandridae, Notodontidae, Euteliidae, Erebidae, Nolidae and Noctuidae. These studies have led to the raising of the Erebinae, a subfamily of Noctuidae, to family status Erebidae. (I note that the Checklist has Erebinae listed only as a synonym of Catocalinae a subfamily of Noctuidae). Recently, Zahiri et al. (2011)(b) present a new phylogeny for Erebidae consisting of 18, moderate to strongly supported, subfamilies. Included in these subfamilies are four families listed in the Checklist: Lymantriidae, Arctiidae, Aganaidae and Herminiidae.
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