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Subfamily Dichomeridinae

Representative Images

Moth 2053 - Dichomeris heriguronis unknown moth - Dichomeris agonia 2269 - Helcystogramma melanocarpa Buffy Dichomeris Moth - Hodges#2291.1 - Dichomeris inserrata Dichomeris inversella or kimballi - Dichomeris inversella Unknown moth - Dichomeris ligulella Dichomeris ligulella Dichomeris ligulella? - Dichomeris acuminatus
Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Gelechioidea (Twirler Moths and kin)
Family Gelechiidae (Twirler Moths)
Subfamily Dichomeridinae

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Dichomerinae Hampson, 1918 (1)

Numbers

84 species in 3 genera in our area (2).

Identification

"Brachmia, Helcystogramma and Acompsia (Dichomeridini) share the following characters: the shape of the forewing is sub-triangular; the cellular cross-vein on hindwing is absent; male genitalia have a free, strongly inflated phallus; female genitalia possess a large ostium bursae that is submerged to segment VII" (3).

Remarks

Karsholt et al. (2013) found found strong support for monophyly in this group (3).

Works Cited

1.A catalogue of the family-group and genus-group names of the Gelechiidae, Holcopogonidae, Lecithoceridae and Symmocidae
Klaus Sattler. 1973. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology 28(4): 153-182.
2.Annotated taxonomic checklist of the Lepidoptera of North America, North of Mexico
Pohl, G.R., Patterson, B., & Pelham, J.P. 2016. ResearchGate.net.
3.A molecular analysis of the Gelechiidae (Lepidoptera, Gelechioidea) with an interpretative grouping of its taxa
Karsholt, O., M. Mutanen, S. Lee, & L. Kaila. 2013. Systematic Entomology. 38 (2):334–348.
Contributed by tom murray on 5 August, 2005 - 8:39am
Additional contributions by Robin McLeod, Randy Hardy, Kyhl Austin
Last updated 7 January, 2017 - 12:16am

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