Kingdom Animalia Order Lepidoptera Family Erebidae Higher classification Lymantriinae | Phylum Arthropoda Superfamily Noctuoidea Subfamily Lymantriinae Rank Tribe | |
Lower classifications Lymantria dispar, Black arches, Stracena, Ceylonica, Perinetia | ||
Lymantriini (sometimes misspelled as Lymantrini) is a tribe of moths of the Erebidae family. This tribe is a group of polyphagous moths that reside mostly in the tropical regions of Afro-Eurasia but also North America.
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Description
Within the family, Lymantriini is distinguished from other tribes by dark, usually zig-zag (sometimes crescent-shaped) banding on the forewings, V-shaped marks on the wing as well as a discal spot and an orbicular spot. It is also characterized by the lack of an areola.
Lymantriini generally are not particularly native to any one area, being found in both the Nearctic and Palearctic zones.
Taxonomy
The tribe was originally described by entomologist Douglas C. Ferguson as one of two tribes (the other Orgyiini). A 2006 paper by J.D. Holloway distinguished three new tribes from Lymantriini — Nygmiini, Leucomini and Arctornithini. In doing this, Holloway acknowledges that Lymantriini is "possibly the most weakly defined of those presented here ... [it] lacks all the strongly definitive features of the other tribes." The genus Lymantria (Hübner) is the most prominent member of the tribe.
Genera
The tribe includes the following genera. This list may be incomplete.