Metoponiinae

Keegan, Kevin L., Rota, Jadranka, Zahiri, Reza, Zilli, Alberto, Wahlberg, Niklas, Schmidt, B. Christian, Lafontaine, J. Donald, Goldstein, Paul Z. & Wagner, David L., 2021, Toward a Stable Global Noctuidae (Lepidoptera) Taxonomy, Insect Systematics and Diversity (AIFB) 5 (3), pp. 1-24 : 15-16

Metoponiinae

We found two of the seven currently recognized Metoponiinae genera that we sampled to be well supported as metoponiines: Aegle Hübner, [1823] and Synthymia Hübner, [1823] (BS = 96, SH = 100, UF = 100; Fig. 4 ). Aegle and Synthymia are both Palearctic genera treated by Fibiger et al. (2009) in Metoponiinae . We also found the genus Axenus Grote, 1873 , a western Nearctic day-flier currently recognized in Stiriinae, to group in Metoponiinae . Our results support initial molecular reconstructions for Metoponiinae by Zahiri et al. (2013), Rota et al. (2016), and Keegan et al. (2019) and confirm that the subfamily is well represented in the Nearctic, especially from arid regions of the American Southwest and northern Mexico. This is noteworthy when one considers that this subfamily was only known to include Old World taxa when it was first proposed.

Four Nearctic genera that had been placed in Noctuidae incertae sedis by Keegan et al. (2019) also grouped in Metoponiinae consistent with their findings: Azenia , Metaponpneumata Möschler, 1890 , Sexserrata Barnes & Benjamin, 1922 , and Tristyla Smith, 1893 . Keegan et al.refrained from transferring these genera to Metoponiinae as they did not include the type genus of Metoponiinae , Aegle , in their study. Interestingly, four of the twelve species of Azenia were originally described in the genus Metoponia Duponchel, 1845 , which is now a synonym of Aegle . Four genera treated as Metoponiinae by Fibiger et al. (2009) grouped elsewhere: Alvaradoia Agenjo, 1984 (Condicinae) ; Apaustis (Acontiinae) ; Megalodes (Acontiinae) ; and Tyta Billberg, 1820 ( Aedia , Copibryophila , and Tyta ). See also discussion of these four genera in pertinent sections of the Results and Discussion (indicated in parentheses).

Before Keegan et al. (2019) and this study, Metoponiinae was decidedly polyphyletic, representing a collection of small, generally brightly colored moths, for which no larval or adult synapomorphies had been identified. Perhaps part of the difficulty in circumscribing this subfamily and finding defining shared characteristics was due to the presence of multiple unrelated day-flying species ( Apaustis , Panemeria Hübner, [1823] , and Tyta ). Day-flying can lead to convergent evolution of morphological characteristics like smaller eyes and palpi, an abundance of relatively long setae along the body, and reduced tympanal (ear) structures as day-flying species no longer have to contend with bats ( Fullard 1994; Poole 1995, p. 112). With some of these day-flying genera classified elsewhere and apart from each other in different subfamilies, our data indicate that day-flying is a bit more common evolutionarily in Noctuidae than earlier classification schemes would have led us to believe.

Figures

Fig. 4. Continuation of maximum-likelihood tree inferred by RAxML analysis.