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| Scranciidae, stat. nov. Adult Scranciidae in situ. (a) Gargetta sp. (photo courtesy V. A. Ismavel). (b) Thacona ingens (photo courtesy M. Sone). (d) Lasioceros aroa (photo courtesy D. Fischer). (e) Phycidopsis albovittata (photo courtesy C. Stinchcomb). in St Laurent, Goldstein, Miller & Robbins, 2024. |
Abstract
We analyse anchored hybrid enrichment data from densely sampled tribes and subfamilies of Notodontidae (Prominent Moths). Notodontidae are monophyletic except for an assemblage of genera related to Thacona Walker (=Scrancia Holland), which had been recognized at either the tribal or subfamilial rank within Notodontidae. We elevate and re-describe Scranciidae stat. nov. as a family distinct from the six currently recognized noctuoid families (Noctuidae, Erebidae, Euteliidae, Nolidae, Notodontidae and Oenosandridae). Scranciidae include 22 genera comprising approximately 100 species—distributed in Africa, Asia and Australia. We re-interpret morphological synapomorphies previously proposed for Notodontidae (including Scranciidae) and for the trifid Noctuoidea more broadly. Deep-level relationships within Noctuoidea are not well resolved outside the clade comprising the four quadrifid families (Noctuidae, Erebidae, Euteliidae and Nolidae). The phylogenetic position of Scranciidae relative to Notodontidae, Oenosandridae and the quadrifids varied markedly depending on data type (amino acid vs. nucleotide) and analytical framework (maximum likelihood, multi-species coalescent and parsimony). We discuss the possible roles of missing data and short branch lengths in resolving the placement of Scranciidae. In the topology best supported by the most available data, Scranciidae are sister to the remaining Noctuoidea, highlighting their phylogenetic significance. We provide a provisional list of the genera included in Scranciidae.
Keywords: anchored hybrid enrichment, Notodontidae, phylogenetic discordance, Scranciidae, topology testing
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| Chronogram of Noctuoidea and outgroups, phylogeny inferred in IQ-TREE on the 60_percent_recovery_NA_codon dataset, dated with TreePL. Topology A is shown, with Scranciidae, stat. nov. sister to all other Noctuoidea. Representative Scranciidae are shown to the right of the figure from top to bottom: Archistilbia sp., Gargetta brevisocius, Gargettoscrancia albolineata, Thacona sp., Thacona osica (photo courtesy A. Schintlmeister), Thacona ingens (photo courtesy A. Schintlmeister) (not to scale). All branches shown have UFBoot ≥95 and SH-aLRT ≥80 supports except for white circles which denote weaker support. For complete raw tree figures, see Figures S1 and S2, treefiles on Dryad. |
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| Adult Scranciidae in situ. (a) Gargetta sp. (photo courtesy V. A. Ismavel). (b) Thacona ingens (photo courtesy M. Sone). (c) Thacona stictica (photo courtesy Q. Grobler). (d) Lasioceros aroa (photo courtesy D. Fischer). (e) Phycidopsis albovittata (photo courtesy C. Stinchcomb). |
Scranciidae (Miller, 1991), stat. nov.
Scranciini Miller, 1991: 185.
Scranciinae Miller, 1991, in Schintlmeister, 2008:8.
Scrantiinae Miller, 1991, in Kobayashi, 2021: 124, misspelling.
Type genus: Scrancia Holland, 1893
(currently a synonym of Thacona Walker, 1865).
Diagnosis. Adults. Scranciid moths are most easily recognizable by their narrow forewings (Figures 1 and 3-9) with straight or convex margins, large sub-triangular hindwings, overall thin and delicate build, extremely long and thin legs, broad accessory cell on the forewing (Figure 1), protruding frons (Figure 9), long, thin, filiform or bipectinate antennae, and male terminalia that (Figure 10), unlike other trifid noctuoids, often lack socii. While Scranciidae and Notodontidae (and drepanoid Doidae) share a ventral-facing tympanum and the absence of nodular sclerite previously thought to have been synapomorphies of Notodontidae, and trifid wing venation (considered symplesiomorphic in Noctuoidea, as was shown in Zahiri et al. (2012)), the combination of the elongate, broad, accessory cell, absence of cteniophores and frequent absence of socii is diagnostic of Scranciidae. The corpus bursae of many scranciid females bears a coffee-bean-shaped signum (Figure 11, shown laterally) unique to scranciids. Adult Scranciidae are differentiated from Old World Notodontidae and Oenosandridae by the ‘upright’ posture in vivo with the anterior part of the body held at a roughly 35° angle to the substrate with the mesothoracic femora reaching the head when held appressed to the thorax (Figure 4).
Distribution. The family is distributed mainly in tropical areas of Africa south of the Sahara, India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia ranging into southern China, the Philippines, Indomalaya and Australasia (Holloway, 1983; Kiriakoff, 1964; Schintlmeister, 2008, 2020; Schintlmeister & Witt, 2015).
Ryan A. St Laurent, Paul Z. Goldstein, Scott E. Miller, Robert K. Robbins. 2024. Hiding in Plain Sight: Phylogenomics reveals A New Branch on the Noctuoidea Tree of Life. Systematic Entomology. 49(2); 258-278. DOI: 10.1111/syen.12614