Ceratrichiini Grishin, new tribe

http://zoobank.org/ FC72EB8A-495D-4439-AA53-C310CD0735DE

Type genus. Ceratrichia Butler, [1870] .

Definition. Placed near the mostly African tribe Astictopterini Swinhoe, 1912, this tribe is a sister to all Hesperiinae except Aeromachini Tutt, 1906. Backed by the maximal statistical support in all trees (Fig. 1), this clade of closely related genera keys to VI.A.(b) or VII.B.(a)(a 1) in Evans (1937). Antennae long, longer than half of costa, 2nd segment of palpi directed up, forewing vein CuA 2 originates in the middle of discal cell, end of discal cell straight, hindwing vein M 2 prominent, originates closer to vein M 1 than M 3, vein CuA 2 originates before or opposite to RS, vein 3A long. Male genitalia simple in most species: uncus undivided (except Herila), terminally narrows to a point, narrow in lateral view, gnathos either short or lacking, valva 2-3 times longer than wide, without prominent elaborations, may have small teeth on harpe. In DNA, a combination of the following base pairs is diagnostic: aly 1121.3.2:A429G, aly669.27.2:A50G, aly374.13.3:A242T, aly216.78.1:A568C, aly1155.14.6:T406G.

Genera included. Ceratrichia Butler, [1870], Meza Hemming, 1939, Herila Larsen and Collins, 2012, Pardaleodes Butler, 1870, Ankola Evans, 1937, and a new genus described below.

Parent taxon. Subfamily Hesperiinae Latreille, 1809 .

Comments. Judging from the genomic trees, this tribe consists of closely related species, but their wing patterns and colors are quite different from each other and may resemble genera outside the tribe. We were not able to find an obvious morphological synapomorphy for the tribe and, as it frequently is the case, the tribe is best diagnosed by DNA characters.