Family GEOMETRIDAE
Introduction
[After McQuillan & Edwards 1996: 200]
The Geometridae are a very large family in Australia. They have been traditionally divided into six subfamilies, the Archiearinae, Ennominae, Oenochrominae, Geometrinae, Sterrhinae and the Larentiinae. Some of these may be monophyletic groups but the Oenochrominae in particular contain several unrelated groups. The literature is listed under the subfamilies but Common (1990) illustrated all the groups mentioned and provided biological information. McFarland (1988) published a lavishly illustrated account of the early stages of a wide selection of Australian species.
Recent research has clarified both subfamily and tribal relationships. With the use of both molecular and morphological data, relationships in the problematic Oenochrominae are gradually becoming clearer. In that subfamily, taxa related to Epidesmia are now treated under the new subfamily Epidesmiinae. The concept of Desmobathrinae has also been resurrected (Murillo-Ramos et al. 2021). The largest Australian tribe of the Ennominae, the Nacophorini, has been synonymised with the previously African tribe the Diptychini. The Tasmanian archiearine genera, Acalyphes and Dirce, have now been moved to this subfamily. These taxonomic changes were first proposed by Young in her series of papers on the Nacophorini but have now been confirmed by several researchers. Tribal relationships within the Geometrinae are also becoming clearer with recent research, but more work is needed to clarify the taxonomy of this subfamily, particularly in regard to the mostly endemic Pseudoterpnini. More details on recent taxonomic changes can be found in the information for each subfamily (Murillo-Ramos 2019).
General References
Common, I.F.B. 1990. Moths of Australia. Carlton : Melbourne University Press vi+535 pp., 32 pls.
McQuillan, P.B. & Edwards, E.D. 1996. Geometridae. pp. 200-228 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.
Murillo-Ramos, L., Friedrich, E., Williams, S., Wahlberg, N., Brehm, G., Sihvonen, P. 2021. A morphological appraisal of the new subfamily Epidesmiinae (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) with an overview of all geometrid subfamilies. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society zlaa189 [Date published 10 March 2021]
Murillo-Ramos L, Brehm G, Sihvonen P, Hausmann A, Holm S, Reza Ghanavi H, Õunap E, Truuverk A, Staude H, Friedrich E, Tammaru T, Wahlberg N. 2019. A comprehensive molecular phylogeny of Geometridae (Lepidoptera) with a focus on enigmatic small subfamilies. PeerJ [Date published 27 August 2019]
Schmidt, O. 2012. An annotated and illustrated list of the primary type specimens of geometrid moths deposited in the Queensland Museum (Australia, Brisbane). Spixiana (Munich) 35(1): 79-100
Young, C. J. 2003. The place of the Australian Nacophorini in the Geometridae. Spixiana (Munich) 26: 199-200
Young, C.J. 2006. Descriptions of the eggs of some southern Australian Geometridae (Lepidoptera). Zootaxa 1287: 294 pp.
Young, C.J. 2006. Molecular relationships of the Australian Ennominae (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) and implications for the phylogeny of the Geometridae from molecular and morphological data. Zootaxa 1264: 1–147
Young, C.J. 2008. Characterisation of the Australian Nacophorini using adult morphology, and phylogeny of the Geometridae based on morphological characters. Zootaxa 1736: 141 pp.
Young, C.J. 2008b. Characterisation of the Larvae of Australian Nacophorini. Zootaxa 1862: 1-74
History of changes
| Published | As part of group | Action Date | Action Type | Compiler(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21-Feb-2022 | GEOMETROIDEA | 04-Dec-2021 | MODIFIED | Dr Cathy Byrne (TMAG) Di Moyle (TMAG) |
| 17-Apr-2014 | GEOMETRIDAE | 17-Apr-2014 | REVIEWED | Dr Federica Turco (QM) |
| 28-Jun-2012 | MODIFIED |