Noctuoidea
| Noctuoidea | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Large Yellow Underwing, Noctua pronuba | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Subsection: | Bombycina |
| Superfamily: | Noctuoidea |
| Families | |
(See text) |
|
| Diversity | |
| over 70,000 species | |
(See text)
Noctuoidea is the superfamily of noctuid (Latin "night owl") or "owlet" moths, and has more than 70000 described species, the largest number of for any Lepidopteran superfamily. Its classification has not yet reached a satisfactory or stable state. Since the end of the 20th century, increasing availability of molecular phylogenetic data for this hugely successful radiation has led to several competing proposals for a taxonomic arrangement that correctly represents the relationships between the major lineages.
Briefly, the disputes center on the fact that in old treatments (which were just as unable to reach a general consensus) the distinctness of some groups, such as the Arctiidae or Lymantriidae, was overrated due to their characteristic appearance, while some less-studied lineages conventionally held to be Noctuidae are in fact quite distinct. This requires a rearrangement at least of the latter family (by simply including anything disputed within it). This is quite unwieldy, and various more refined treatments have been proposed in response to it. While there is general agreement on what the basal families of Noctuoidea are, the more diverse advanced group may be treated as one all-encompassing Noctuidae, two huge and two smaller, or even (if Arctiidae or Lymantriida are kept distinct) more than four families, which are in some cases still quite sizeable.
There are several recent studies suggesting a radical change in the traditional family level classification. Recent works in redifining the families within the Noctuoidea has been carried out by Kitching (1984), Poole (1995), Kitching and Rawlins [1998], Speidel et al. (1996), Mitchell et al. (1997, 2000, 2006), Fibiger and Lafontaine (2005), Lafontaine and Fibiger (2006) and Zahiri et al. (2010).
The Noctuoidea can be divided into two broad groups, those with a trifid forewing venation (Oenosandridae, Notodontidae and Doidae), and those with a quadrifid forewing venation (e.g., Arctiidae, Lymantriidae, Nolidae, Noctuidae). What has emerged from these investigations is that the quadrifid Noctuoidea form a monophyletic group. In 2005, Fibiger and Lafontaine arranged the quadrifid (forewing) group into several families, including the quadrifine (hindwing) Erebidae and trifine (hindwing) Noctuidae, based on evidence that suggested that the trifine noctuid subfamilies were derived from within the quadrifine subfamilies, so the family Erebidae would not be strictly monophyletic.
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