Family Erebidae Research Articles

Giant Woolly Bear (larva), Giant or Great Leopard Moth (adult) Hypercompe scribonia (Stoll 1790) (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae)

The giant leopard moth is our largest eastern tiger moth. It was formerly in the family Arctiidae, which now composes the subfamily Arctiinae in the family Erebidae. Giant leopard moths are nocturnal. Males are commonly attracted to lights at night. Sometimes dozens of males come to bright lights set out in good habitat. This 6-page fact sheet was written by Donald W. Hall and published by the UF Department of Entomology and Nematology, August 2014.
 EENY599/IN1043: Giant Woolly Bear (larva), Giant or Great Leopard Moth (adult) Hypercompe scribonia (Stoll 1790) (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae) (ufl.edu)

Two Newly Recorded and Two Little Known Species of Erebidae (Lepidoptera, Noctuoidea) in Korea

Two genera and two species of the family Erebidae, which is the largest family in Noctuoidea after recently redefined, are newly recorded in Korea: Luceria striata Galsworthy and Metachrostis sinevi Matov et Kononenko. In addition, supplementary collecting data are provided for the two species of Erebidae, Lophomilia nekrasovi Kononenko et Behounek and Acontia martjanovi (Tschetverikov), whose Korean distribution has been briefly reported. The female genitalia of Luceria striata are described for the first time. Photos of imagines and genitalia, where available, are provided. All the examined specimens are deposited in the Department of Plant Medicine, Chungbuk National University in Cheongju, Korea.

Five new species and three new subspecies of Erebidae and Noctuidae (Insecta, Lepidoptera) from Northwestern North America, with notes on Chytolita Grote (Erebidae) and Hydraecia Guenée (Noctuidae)

Several taxonomic issues in the moth families Erebidae and Noctuidae are addressed for Northwestern North America. Drasteria parallelaCrabo & Mustelin andCycnia oregonensis tristisCrabo in the Erebidae and Eudryas brevipennis bonneville Shepard & Crabo, Resapamea diluvius Crabo, Resapamea angelika Crabo, Resapamea mammuthus Crabo, Fishia nigrescens Hammond & Crabo, and Xestia perquiritata orca Crabo & Hammond in the Noctuidae are described as new. The following new synonyms are proposed: Chytolita petrealis Grote with Herminea morbidalis Guenée; Gortyna columbia Barnes & Benjamin and Gortyna ximena Barnes & Benjamin with Gortyna obliqua Harvey; and Hydroecia pallescens Smith with Hydroecia medialis Smith. The type locality of Gortyna intermedia Barnes & Benjamin is restricted to Lundbreck, Municipality of Crowsnest Pass, Alberta, Canada.

A new species of the genus Tentasetae Fibiger, 2011 from China (Lepidoptera, Erebidae: Hypenodinae, Micronoctuini): postscript to the revision of China Micronoctuidae

The Micronoctuidae was erected as a family of Noctuoidea by Fibiger (in Fibiger & Lafontaine 2005). Later, in a series of monographs Fibiger (2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011) revised Asian taxa of Micronoctuidae and developed the taxonomic structure of the family with seven subfamilies, 54 genera, and 306 species. However, the status of the Micronoctuidae has changed in recent years, with the current placement being Micronoctuini as a tribe of the subfamily Hypenodinae (Zahiri et al. 2011a, 2001b; Holloway 2011) in the family Erebidae (Noctuoidea).

Ecology, Natural History, and Larval Descriptions of Arctiinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea: Erebidae) from a Cloud Forest in the Eastern Andes of Ecuador

Abstract Adults and larvae in the subfamily Arctiinae (family Erebidae), along with their host plants and the parasitic wasps and flies that attack them, are important components of most terrestrial food webs, but basic taxonomic and life-history knowledge for the arctiines of the Neotropics is still poorly known. This is true for most groups of Lepidoptera in hyperdiverse countries such as Ecuador. To examine host affiliations and natural enemies in diverse ecosystems, we collected 6,243 arctiine caterpillars (representing 821 larval morphospecies) at elevations ranging from 400 to 3,500 m as part of a larger ecological and taxonomic survey of trophic associations centered at the Yanayacu Biological Station in Napo province, eastern Ecuador. Here, we provide a brief review of the systematics of Neotropical Arctiinae, provide basic information on host affiliations and parasitism rates of arctiines reared from Napo province in Ecuador and describe the immature stages of 16 species encountered in the region.

Molecular phylogenetics of Erebidae (Lepidoptera, Noctuoidea)

As a step towards understanding the higher‐level phylogeny and evolutionary affinities of quadrifid noctuoid moths, we have undertaken the first large‐scale molecular phylogenetic analysis of the moth family Erebidae, including almost all subfamilies, as well as most tribes and subtribes. DNA sequence data for one mitochondrial gene (COI) and seven nuclear genes (EF‐1α,wingless,RpS5,IDH,MDH,GAPDHandCAD) were analysed for a total of 237 taxa, principally type genera of higher taxa. Data matrices (6407 bp in total) were analysed by parsimony with equal weighting and model‐based evolutionary methods (maximum likelihood), which revealed a well‐resolved skeleton phylogenetic hypothesis with 18 major lineages, which we treat here as subfamilies of Erebidae. We thus present a new phylogeny for Erebidae consisting of 18 moderate to strongly supported subfamilies: Scoliopteryginae, Rivulinae, Anobinae, Hypeninae, Lymantriinae, Pangraptinae, Herminiinae, Aganainae, Arctiinae, Calpinae, Hypocalinae, Eulepidotinae, Toxocampinae, Tinoliinae, Scolecocampinae, Hypenodinae, Boletobiinae and Erebinae. Where possible, each monophyletic lineage is diagnosed by autapomorphic morphological character states, and within each subfamily, monophyletic tribes and subtribes can be circumscribed, most of which can also be diagnosed by morphological apomorphies. All additional taxa sampled fell within one of the four previously recognized quadrifid families (mostly into Erebidae), which are now found to include two unusual monobasic taxa from New Guinea: Cocytiinae (now in Erebidae: Erebinae) and Eucocytiinae (now in Noctuidae: Pantheinae).