Genus Mythimna Ochsenheimer, 1816

Museums

Regional Maps

• Mythimna Ochsenheimer, F. 1816. Die Schmetterlinge von Europa. Leipzig : Fleisher Vol. 4 223 pp. [78].

  Type species:

   Phalaena turca Linnaeus, 1761 by subsequent designation, see Samouelle, G. 1819. The entomologists' useful compendium, or an introduction to the knowledge of British Insects. London : Boys 496 pp. [251].
• Heliophila Hübner, 1806.
• Philostola Billberg, 1820.
• Aletia Hübner, 1821.
• Hyphilare Hübner, 1821.
• Heliophila Hübner, 1822.
• Leucania Boisduval, 1828.
• Mithimna Sodoffsky, 1837.
• Hyperiodes Warren, 1910.
• Sablia Sukhareva, 1973.

General References

Edwards, E.D. 1996. Noctuidae. pp. 291-333 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. [329] (Note 728. Mythimna Ochsenheimer, 1816 and Lemcania Ochsenheimer, 1816. The generic classification of the species placed [by Edawrds 1996] in Mythimna Ochsenheimer and Leucania Ochsenheimer is unstable. Calora (1966) discussed these genera. Essentially, European authors (e.g. Berio 1985) place all the species in Mythimna while authors from North America and Japan divided the species into two large genera and some smaller ones (Sugi 1982; Poole 1989). The species have not been studied on a world basis and nor has cladistic analysis been applied to them. In the absence of adequate studies [the 1996] checklist [attempted] to retain the useful information embodied in the North American and Japanese system. The available generic names are listed as synonyms of Mythimna Ochsenheimer unless treated as subgenera. It is truly remarkable that such an important group, containing many economically significant species, should be so poorly understood. This is true also for Australia where several species, well-known overseas where they attack graminaceous crops, were recognized from Australia for the first time while researching [the 1996] Checklist)

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