Subfamily GLAPHYRIINAE

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• Homophysinae.
• Evergestinae.
• Noordinae.

Introduction

[After Shaffer et al. (1996: 169)]
Glaphyriinae are represented in Australia by 2 species of the genus Hellula Guenée, 1854 and the widespread H. undalis (Fabricius, 1781) (Waterhouse & Norris 1989).

The Glaphyriinae were first distinguished by Forbes (1923) and have been recognised as a distinct subfamily since then. Munroe (1964) further defined the group and listed some 23 genera. At present, about 35 genera are recorded, containing about 160 described species. Hellula is the only genus of this subfamiliy to be found outside the New World.

Common (1990) records the larvae of both species as being pests on Brassicaceae, and they are known in Australia as the cabbage center grubs. H. hydralis sometimes causes extensive damage to the foliage, flowers and seed capsules of rape.

Externally the genus Hellula can be recognised by the presence on the upper side of the forewing of an oval or kidney-shaped dark spot over the discocellular vein. The subfamily is characterised by the structure of the abdominal tympanal organs and the genitalia. Munroe (1972b) notes that the head does not have a true chaetosema, but a prominant scaletuft is found in its place.

The subfamily Evergestinae was recognised for Australia by Shaffer in Nielsen et al. (1996), represented in Australia by just 3 species in one genus, Crocidolomia pavonana (Fabricius, 1794) (better known under the synonym binotalis Zeller, 1852), C. suffusalis (Hampson, 1891) and C. luteolous Hampson, 1893. All were described from outside Australia and each has a wide distribution. It is possible that when the genus is revised they may be found to represent species-complexes. An undescribed species is known from Norfolk Island.

Shaffer in Nielsen et al. (1996) noted that the subfamily, originally described by Marion (1952), had been more thoroughly studied in the New World than elsewhere, and that the group is predominantly Holarctic. Since 1952 Evergestinae were mostly been treated as a distinct subfamily, except by Hannemann (1964) who included them in the Pyraustinae. Certain genera and some isolated species are still confused with the Pyraustinae and the estimate of the total world fauna of about 200-300 species is tentative.

Common (1990) reports Crocidolomia pavonana as a minor pest on cabbages and other Brassicaceae, known as the cabbage cluster caterpillar. The non-Australian Evergestis also has been recorded from Brassicaceae and Capparidaceae. Crocidolomia can be recognised by a large raised scale tuft near the base of the forewing costa on the upperside. The structure of the tympanal organs and the genitalia are characteristic for the subfamiliy.

Shaffer in Nielsen et al. (1996) also recognised Noordinae for Australia, represented by the single species Noorda blitealis Walker, 1859. It was originally described from Sri Lanka, with synonyms from Aden and India, and is distributed from Arabia to SE Asia. A few other species of Noorda are known from the African and Oriental region. Noorda blitealis is recorded in bark of Moringa oleifera and M. ptygosperma in India.

The Noordinae were first distinguished as a separate subfamily from the Odoniinae by Minet (1980) and this was accepted (Scoble 1992). They are characterised by the strongly modified tympanal organs which are partially retracted into the thorax so that the tympana face backwards rather than in the usual antero-ventral direction.

Regier et. al (2012) synonymised Evergestinae and Noordinae with Gaphyriinae, and this is followed here.

General References

Common, I.F.B. 1990. Moths of Australia. Carlton : Melbourne University Press vi+535 pp., 32 pls.

Forbes, W.T.M. 1923. Lepidoptera of New York and neighboring states. Part 1. Primitive forms, Microlepidoptera, Pyraloids, Bombyces. Memoirs of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station 68: 1-729

Hannemann, H.-J. 1964. Kleinschmetterlinge oder Microlepidoptera. II. Die Wickler (s.l.)(Cochylidae und Carposinidae). Die Zünslerartigen (Pyraloidea). Die Tierwelt Deutschlands und der angrenzenden Meeresteile 50: i-viii, 1-401, pls 1-22

Marion, H. 1952. Ebauche d'une classification nouvelle des Pyraustidae. Revue Française de Lépidoptérologie 13: 260-270

Munroe, E. 1964. New genera and species of Glaphyriinae (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). The Canadian Entomologist 96: 1261-1307

Munroe, E. 1972. Pyraloidea Pyralidae comprising subfamilies Odontiinae, Glaphyriinae. In, Dominick, R.B. et al. (eds). The Moths of America North of Mexico. London : E.W. Classey Limited and R.B.D. Publications Inc. Vol. 13.1b 137-250 pp.

Regier, J.C., Mitter, C., Solis, M.A., Hayden, J.E., Landry, B., Nuss, M. Simonsen, T.J., Yen, S.-H., Zwick, A. & Cummings, M.P. 2012. A molecular phylogeny for the pyraloid moths (Lepidoptera: Pyraloidea) and its implications for higher level classification. Systematic Entomology 37: 635-656

Scoble, M.J. 1992. The Lepidoptera. Form, Function and Diversity. Oxford : Natural History Museum Publications & Oxford University Press xi + 404 pp.

Shaffer, M., Nielsen, E.S. & Horak, M. 1996. Pyraloidea. pp. 164-199 in Nielsen, E.S., Edwards, E.D. & Rangsi, T.V. (eds). Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera. Collingwood : CSIRO Publishing Vol. 4 xiv 529 pp. & CD-ROM.

Waterhouse, D.F. & Norris, K.R. 1989. Biological control. Pacific prospects. Canberra : Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research Supplement 1. vii+123 pp., frontispiece.

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