Pseudeustrotiini

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 : 17-18

Pseudeustrotiini

Anterastria Sugi, 1982 and Pseudeustrotia Warren, 1913 make up the noctuine tribe Pseudeustrotiini , which we found to group outside of core Noctuinae with Callyna Guenée, 1852 ; Fracara Walker, 1856 ; and Musothyma Meyrick, 1897 in a poorly supported clade that also includes Condicinae (BS = 23, SH = 58.6, UF = 51; Fig. 5). Anterastria , Callyna , Fracara , and Musothyma formed a clade (BS = 78, SH = 97, UF = 91), with the position of Pseudeustrotia poorly supported. Callyna , currently recognized in the noctuine tribe Dypterygiini ( Holloway 2011) has species distributed across southern Africa, southern Asia, and Australia; Musothyma is a monotypic Noctuidae incertae sedis genus from Australia; and Fracara is a South American genus regarded to be a noctuine. It is possible Callyna , Fracara , and Musothyma belong in Pseudeustrotiini , but support values are low and these genera need to be evaluated based on additional data: both more sequence data and the morphological characters used by Beck (1996) to define Pseudeustrotiini . Larval morphology does not suggest Pseudeustrotiini belong in

Condicinae . The larva of Pseudeustrotia carneola Warren, 1913 has reduced prolegs on A3 and bears a broad white spiracular stripe as is common across Condicinae , but the spinneret is long and dorsally grooved and the SD1 seta on A9 is hairlike, whereas most condicines have a reduced scalelike spinneret and lack a hairlike SD1 seta on A9. These spinneret and setal characteristics unite Pseudeustrotiini with most Noctuinae. It is plausible that Pseudeustrotiini represent a distinct subfamily, as Beck (1996) proposed, but it also plausible that they are rightfully placed in Noctuinae as our molecular data were inconclusive as to their proper placement.