Microschisminae, Ustjuzhanin & Kovtunovich, 2011

Ustjuzhanin, P. & Kovtunovich, V., 2011, A revision of the genus Microschismus Fletcher, 1909 (Lepidoptera: Alucitidae), African Invertebrates 52 (2), pp. 557-557 : 558

Subfamily Microschisminae subfam. n.

Type genus: Microschismus Fletcher, 1909 .

Diagnosis: Size small to medium (11–23 mm). The forewings are split to the middle of the wing. The labial palpi are very long, 4–5× as long as than the eye diameter. In the male genitalia, the uncus is usually wide, with the entire apex and the valves narrow, with appendages on the lower edge of the bottom or the middle part. The aedeagus is slightly curved, usually without cornuti. In the female genitalia, the vaginal plate has a characteristic oval cut, the bursa copulartrix has no signa and the ductus is short tubular.

Remarks: The systematics of Alucitidae have not yet been investigated. There is no division into subfamilies. Many species are groundlessly placed in the same genus. For example, the genus Alucita L., 1758 includes 90 % of all species of the world many-plumed moths fauna, spread over all continents. There is no doubt that this classification does not give a true picture; it is obviously outdated and requires a thorough revision. At this stage we establish a new subfamily with characteristic differences from the Alucitinae, including the Palaearctic species of the genera Alucita and Pterotopteryx Hannemann, 1959 . The other genera, recorded from the Australasian, Oriental and Neotropical regions, are not considered here and require thorough study.

The main criteria for erecting the new subfamily are very long palpi, forewings split only to their midlength, the entire apex of the uncus, and the presence of the vaginal plate with a characteristic oval cut in the female genitalia.