Kingdom Animalia Scientific name Lithosiinae Higher classification Arctiinae Order Butterflies and moths | Superfamily Noctuoidea Phylum Arthropoda Rank Subfamily | |
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Tribe Lithosiini
Billberg, 1820 Lower classifications Lithosia quadra, Quadrasura, Lexis | ||
The Lithosiini are a tribe of lichen moths in the Erebidae family.
Contents
Systematics
The tribe was previously treated as a higher-level taxon, the Lithosiinae subfamily, within the Arctiidae family of lichen and tiger moths. The ranks of the family and its subdivisions were lowered in a recent reclassification while keeping the contents of the family and its subdivisions largely unchanged. These changes in rank triggered changes in the suffixes in the names. The Arctiidae family as a whole was reclassified as the Arctiinae subfamily within the Erebidae family. The original Lithosiinae subfamily was lowered to tribe status as Lithosiini, and its original tribes were lowered to subtribe status by changing the -ini suffix to -ina (e.g., Acsalini became Acsalina). Thus the present name "Lithosiini" used to refer to only a subgroup of the entire group (Lithosiinae) of lichen moths, but now it refers to the entire group.
The systematics of the Lithosiini are in need of revision. For example, the proposed subtribes Afridina, Cisthenina, Endrosina and Eudesmina require validation and delimitation of content. The arrangement followed here is based on the preliminary consensus list of Savela (2007).
Subtribes (former tribes)
Many genera in the Lithosiini tribe are included in the following subtribes, while the others are placed in incertae sedis.