No abstract

Abstract. Pyraloidea, one of the largest superfamilies of Lepidoptera, comprise more than 15 684 described species worldwide, including important pests, biological control agents and experimental models. Understanding of pyraloid phylogeny, the basis for a predictive classification, is currently provisional. We present the most detailed molecular estimate of relationships to date across the subfamilies of Pyraloidea, and assess its concordance with previous morphology-based hypotheses. We sequenced up to five nuclear genes, totalling 6633 bp, in each of 42 pyraloids spanning both families and 18 of the 21 subfamilies, plus up to 14 additional genes, for a total of 14 826 bp, in 21 of those pyraloids plus all 24 outgroups. Maximum likelihood analyses yield trees that, within Pyraloidea, differ little among datasets and character treatments and are strongly supported at all levels of divergence (83% of nodes with bootstrap ≥80%). Subfamily relationships within Pyralidae, all very strongly supported (>90% bootstrap), differ only slightly from a previous morphological analysis, and can be summarized as Galleriinae + Chrysauginae (Phycitinae (Pyralinae + Epipaschiinae)). The main remaining uncertainty involves Chrysauginae, of which the poorly studied Australian genera may constitute the basal elements of Galleriinae + Chrysauginae or even of Pyralidae. In Crambidae the molecular phylogeny is also strongly supported, but conflicts with most previous hypotheses. Among the newly proposed groupings are a 'wet-habitat clade' comprising Acentropinae + Schoenobiinae + Midilinae, and a provisional 'mustard oil clade' containing Glaphyriinae, Evergestinae and Noordinae, in which the majority of described larvae feed on Brassicales. Within this clade a previous synonymy of Dichogaminae with the Glaphyriinae is supported. Evergestinae syn. n. and Noordinae syn. n. are here newly synonymized with Glaphyriinae, which appear to be paraphyletic with respect to both. Pyraustinae and Spilomelinae as Re-use sampled here are each monophyletic but form a sister group pair. Wurthiinae n. syn., comprising the single genus Niphopyralis Hampson, which lives in ant nests, are closely related to, apparently subordinate within, and here newly synonymized with, Spilomelinae syn. n. IntroductionThe Pyraloidea, comprising the families Pyralidae and Crambidae, are one of the mega-diverse superfamilies of Lepidoptera, trailing only Gelechioidea and Papilionoidea outside the Macroheterocera sensu van Nieukerken et al. (2011). The 15 500 + described species (van Nieukerken et al., 2011) are distributed worldwide; many more species are undescribed, especially in the tropics. Pyraloidea include numerous major pests of crops, stored foodstuffs, forests and ornamental plants, as well as biological control agents used successfully against invasive plants (e.g. Zhang, 1994;Center et al., 2002). They are among the most ecologically diverse lepidopteran superfamilies: in addition to feeding on most major groups of plants, pyraloid larvae collectively expl...

No abstract

No abstract

Crambinae (2047 spp.) and Scopariinae (577 spp.) are two major groups of pyraloid moths with a worldwide distribution. Their larvae feed predominantly on Poales and Bryophyta, with many cereal crop pests. We present the first molecular phylogeny of the two groups based on five nuclear genes and one mitochondrial gene (total = 4713 bp) sampled for 58 crambine species representing 56 genera and all tribes, 33 scopariine species representing 12 genera, and species in several other crambid lineages. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses of the molecular data resolve suprageneric relationships in Crambinae and Scopariinae, whereas relationships between these and other subfamilies remain ambiguous. Crambinae and Scopariinae are each recovered as monophyletic groups, and Erupini, formerly regarded as an ingroup of Midilinae, is recovered as a possible sister group of Crambinae. The tree topology suggests the following two major changes within Crambinae: Prionapterygini Landry syn.n. of Ancylolomiini Ragonot stat. rev. and Myelobiini Minet syn.n. of Chiloini Heinemann. Argyriini Munroe is monophyletic after the transfer of Pseudocatharylla Bleszynski and Vaxi Bleszynski to Calamotrophini. Crambini, Diptychophorini and Haimbachiini are monophyletic after the exclusion of Ancylolomia Hübner, Euchromius Guenée, Micrelephas Dognin and Miyakea Marumo from Crambini, as well as Microchilo Okano from Diptychophorini. Euchromiini tribe n. is described for Euchromius. Microcramboides Bleszynski syn.n. and Tortriculladia Bleszynski syn.n. are synonymized with Microcrambus Bleszynski. In Scopariinae, Caradjaina Leraut syn.n. and Cholius Guenée syn.n. are synonymized with Scoparia Haworth, and, in addition, Dasyscopa Meyrick syn.n., Dipleurinodes Leraut syn.n. and Eudipleurina Leraut syn.n. are synonymized with Eudonia Billberg. Micraglossa melanoxantha (Turner) (Scoparia) comb.n. is proposed as a new combination. We analysed 27 morphological characters of wing venation, tympanal organs, male and female genitalia, as well as host plant data and egg‐laying behaviour. The ancestral character‐state reconstructions confirmed previous apomorphies and highlighted new apomorphies for some of the newly recovered clades. The derived, nonadhesive egg‐dropping behaviour is found to have evolved at least twice in Crambinae and is associated with the use of Pooideae as host plants. This published work has been registered in ZooBank, http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:1A84282D-930A-4C32-8340-D681BFF27A12.