Subfamily CYBALOMIINAE

Museums

Museum list

Regional Maps

Subfamily CYBALOMIINAE

Introduction

[Modified after Shaffer et al. (1996: 168)]
Cybalomiinae are represented in Australia by 13 species in 7 genera. The earliest recorded Australian species is Trichophysetis neophyla Meyrick, 1884. Several changes are made here to the checklist of Shaffer et al. (1996), with removal of Thyridiphora and transfer from Scopariinae of Phenacodes. Though most of the species were described from Australia, a few were first recorded elsewhere. There have been no recent systematic studies on this group in the Old World fauna and the species distribution is not well known. The subfamily is well represented in the Palaearctic region, but has an almost world wide distribution, though little is known of them in most regions. Many cybalomiine genera and species have been included in the Pyraustinae or other pyralid subfamilies. The world fauna has not been revised recently and some genera currently in this subfamily may prove to belong elsewhere. Given these uncertainties, the Cybalomiinae are estimated to number between 1-200 species worldwide.

The group was originally described by Marion (1959) (not Marion 1955), as stated in Fletcher & Nye (1984), but as Cybalomiini, a tribe of the Scopariinae. Munroe (1959) treated it as a good subfamily and it has been so regarded by most authors from Leraut (1980) to the present.

The biology of Australian species is unknown.

The Cybalomiinae can be easily confused with a number of crambiform subfamilies, but the usually long and conspicuous maxillary palpi are a help in distinguishing them. However, the subfamily can be accurately defined by the structures of the tympanal organs and the genitalia.