Subfamily Gelechiinae

Gelechiinae Stainton, 1854 (1)

Gelechiinae from the type genus Gelechia (Hübner), from Greek meaning "resting on the ground." (2)

By far the largest subfamily of Gelechiidae in our area with 663 species in 57 genera (3)

"The Gelechiinae ... are characterized by one synapomorphy: tergum VIII and sternum VIII in the male have free ‘flaps’ that are formed of an outer sclerotized part belonging to tergum VIII and sternum VIII, and an inner unsclerotized membrane, which is formed by the intersegmental membrane between segment VIII and IX, so they are not united to a ring (Huemer & Sattler, 1995, N.P. Kristensen, personal communication). Tergum VIII is in many species in this clade tongue-shaped, and sternum VIII is usually broad, sometimes with paired anterior apophyses, namely rod-like lobes (Hodges, 1998; Huemer & Karsholt, 1999)" (4).

"Tribal division of Gelechiinae by Karsholt (2011) is generally well supported. Anacampsini, Chelariini, Anomologini, Gnorimoschemini and Litini are all well supported as monophyletic groups, respectively, but Gelechiini appears paraphyletic because both Gnorimoschemini and Litini are nested within it. ... The current competing tribal classifications of Gelechiinae s.s. agree in separating the subfamily into three tribes: Litini (= Teleiodini), Gelechiini and Gnorimoschemini (e.g. Huemer & Karsholt, 1999, 2010; Ponomarenko, 2008a, 2009; Lee et al., 2009). However, this is unsupported by our results, as Gelechiinae (-ini) is paraphyletic with respect to Litini and Gnorimoschemini. But, as our data are insufficient in proposing a new and better classification, we suggest, for the time being, the continuing use of the established tribes. We further stress the need of a more detailed study with a considerably increased taxon sampling, to be able to suggest a satisfying tribal subdivision for Gelechiinae s.s." (4)