Kingdom Animalia Order Lepidoptera Scientific name Calpinae Rank Subfamily | Phylum Arthropoda Superfamily Noctuoidea Higher classification Erebidae | |
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Lower classifications Oraesia, Phyllodes | ||
The Calpinae are a subfamily of moths in the Erebidae family. This subfamily includes many species of moths that have a pointed and barbed proboscis adapted to piercing the skins of fruit to feed on juice, and in the case of the several Calyptra species of vampire moths, to piercing the skins of mammals to feed on blood. The subfamily contains some large moths with wingspans longer than 5 cm (2 in).
Contents
Taxonomy
Recent phylogenetic studies have greatly revised this subfamily. The subfamily was previously classified within the Noctuidae, but the redefinition of that family has reclassified many of that family's subfamilies, including Calpinae, into the Erebidae family. The Calpinae are most closely related to a clade including the Eulepidotinae and Hypocalinae families, which are also among the Erebidae. The tribes Anomini and Scoliopterygini, previously included in the Calpinae, were found to be distantly related and were reclassified into a separate subfamily as the Scoliopteryginae.
Tribes
The Calpinae consist of three monophyletic tribes.
Previous taxonomy
The status of the former composition of the Calpinae was somewhat disputed; it was sometimes merged into the Catocalinae. Most of the calpine genera were not further classified. The phylogenetic structure of this group was essentially unresolved, and in many cases it was even doubtful whether the genera were indeed correctly placed in this subfamily.
Tribe Calpini
Tribe Gonopterini
Genera incertae sedis
Genera provisionally placed here (incomplete list); includes taxa sometimes separated in Ophiderinae