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Acronicta and Chloronycta female genitalia. 9 Acronicta fallax 10 Acronicta grisea 11 Acronicta tritona 12 Chloronycta tybo.
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AbstractThe taxonomic composition and systematic position of Agriopodes Hampson is examined through an integrated approach using adult and larval morphology, biology, and molecular sequence data. The type-species of Agriopodes, Moma fallax Herrich-Schäffer is shown to be derived within the Acronicta grisea Walker species-group; accordingly, Agriopo...
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... Noctuoidea, the largest of the lepidopteran superfamilies, is of specific interest, having been studied by multiple authors following the discovery of the NGP (Sokolov 1936, Henke andKruse 1941). Our focus on the Acronictinae (Lepidoptera: Macroheterocera: Noctuidae) is occasioned by several recent systematic studies (Wagner 2007, Wagner et al. 2008, Schmidt et al. 2014, Rota et al. 2016) and by a number of biological attributes amenable to the study of wing pattern. The Acronictinae are an attractive study system for at least two reasons. ...
... Species were chosen on the basis of the degree to which their patterning lent itself to the examination of discrete pattern elements; specifically, we chose species whose wing patterns have multiple pattern elements visibly reaching the costal margin of the wing, with readily distinguishable boundaries between them. These comprise 14 species currently recognized within Acronicta Ochsenheimer proper, including one (Acronicta fallax Herrich-Schäffer) recently transferred from the monotypic genus Agriopodes Hampson (Schmidt et al. 2014), and representing multiple species in the three most speciose of the four primary subgeneric clades; and five species representing four acronictine genera outside Acronicta (Cerma Hübner, Comachara Franclemont, Harrisimemna Grote, and Polygrammate Hübner). All but five of the species examined here were included in a recent phylogenetic study (Rota et al. 2016). ...
The nymphalid groundplan (NGP) is an idealized system used to classify and interpret wing pattern elements of butterflies. Nearly a century ago, the principles of the NGP were applied to the wing patterns of higher moths (Macroheterocera). Recent advances in phylogeny and in the comparative morphology of microlepidopteran wing pattern both suggest promise in revisiting the relevance of the NGP to the more conspicuous and derived groups of large Lepidoptera. In the noctuid subfamily Acronictinae, wing patterns include elements corresponding to the central symmetry system, discal (reniform) spot, and parafocal elements of the NGP. Wing patterns in this lineage are also consistent with the ‘uniform wing-margin’ model, which was hypothesized to explain the relationship between wing venation and color pattern, and which has been corroborated in various lineages of microlepidoptera. The uniform wing-margin model does not appear to hold for butterflies, however, and has not previously been evaluated in Macroheterocera. The finding that NGP-like wing patterns in Macroheterocera share features with microlepidoptera is consistent with convergence, i.e., with independent origins of ‘the’ NGP. Furthermore this finding suggests that such superficially similar (not strictly homologous) ‘NGPs’ may have arisen via different mechanisms corresponding to ancestral differences in the relationships between wing patterns wing venation, and can be differentiated on that basis.
... The high level of external similarity led to the rather extended interpretation of Craniophora s. l. instead of a well-defined taxonomic rank. Recent molecular studies (Schmidt et al. 2014, Rota et al. 2016) revealed that the similar external appearance of various acronictine species does not signalise their closer relationship (e.g. Chloronycta tybo (Barnes, 1904) vs. Acronicta fallax (Herrich-Schäffer, [1854])), moreover, species with conspicuously different appearance can be closer to each other than previously thought (e.g. ...
Present paper contains the description of 8 new genera, separated from Craniophora (Harmandicrania, Graesericrania, Eurypterocrania, Turnerinycta, Fascionycta, Berionycta, Draudtinycta and Sinonycta gen. n.) and 13 new species (Harmandicrania barnandi, H. tathabayandi, H. brunneocinerea, H. sinoandi, H. peninsularis, H. nipponica, Berionycta limbata, B. ponticamima, B. nigra, B. orbicularis, B. behouneki, B. berioi and B. beckroberti spp. n.). Based on external and genital morphology and characters of the abdominal segments the taxonomic context of the genus Craniophora was reduced, the genus Megalonycta was extended. 22 new combinations and 11 new states were introduced. 8 lectotypes and 4 neotypes were designated. With 6 plates of morphological characters and 231 figures in 33 plates. The male and female last abdominal segments of most of the species are figured for the first time.
... Recently, camouflage has been classified into two major types: crypsis (blended into environmental backgrounds to avoid detection by potential predators) and masquerade (special resemblance to natural objects to avoid recognition by potential predators) (Stevens and Merilaita 2009;Merilaita and Stevens 2011;Skelhorn et al. 2010a, b;Skelhorn 2015). Prominent cases of camouflage are found in butterfly and moth wing patterns, including tree bark crypsis in Biston betularia (van't Hof et al. 2016), lichen crypsis in Agriopodes fallax (Schmidt et al. 2014), leaf vein masquerade in the noctuid moth Oraesia excavata (Fig. 3.1a;Suzuki 2013) or in the nymphalid butterflies Kallima inachus and K. paralekta (Fig. 3.1b; Suzuki et al. 2014), and dried leaf masquerade in Polygonia c-album (Wiklund and Tullberg 2004). Most studies focused on the microevolutionary aspects of camouflage generation. ...
Lepidopteran camouflage patterns offer sophisticated and captivated examples of morphological evolution. Previous studies focused on how and why camouflage patterns are modulated at the microevolutionary level and determined, for instance, the adaptive role of camouflage patterns in avoiding predator attacks. However, less attention has been paid to the macroevolution of camouflage, including the evolutionary paths leading to the origination of leaf mimicry patterns. To understand the deep origins and evolvability of camouflage patterns, a key principle comes from a highly conserved ground plan (termed the nymphalid ground plan; NGP). The ground plan generates a variety of morphological forms, while it maintains its own type. This review introduces several seminal studies that used NGP-known features to reveal the macroevolutionary aspects of lepidopteran camouflage patterns, providing a roadmap for further understanding this biological phenomenon. The following core themes are discussed: (1) how complex camouflage patterns evolved (macroevolutionary pathways), (2) what kind of flexible mechanisms facilitate the origin of such complex patterns (macro-evolvability), and (3) how such complex patterns are tightly integrated through the coupling and uncoupling of ancestral developmental mechanisms (body plan character map). These approaches will provide new research lines for studying the evolution of camouflage patterns and the underlying flexibility of the NGP.
... Another oft-cited work by Poole, Nomina Insecta Nearctica, included the following list for the Nearctic fauna: Acronicta, Agriopodes, Anterastria, Harrisimemna, Merolonche, Polygrammate, and Simyra. This is the first and only mention of Anterastria as an acronictine in any published work, though it has had an affinity with Agriopodes (Schmidt et al. 2014). At the family level, Comachara remained assigned to Arctiidae, following Franclemont and Todd (1983). ...
... Agriopodes was a genus of lichen-mimic moths sporting beautiful green coloration, unusual for acronictines, which to be gray and rather undistinguished. Based on molecular data and both adult and larval morphology, Agriopodes was found to be polyphyletic and thus was entirely rearranged by Schmidt et al. (2014). The green adult coloration shared by all members of the genus, turned out to be convergent, revealed by the larval data collected by co-authors Wagner and Zacharczenko. ...
... A COI phylogeny showed that A. fallax nested within Acronicta, and so Agriopodes was synonymized with Acronicta. The remaining member of the genus, Agriopodes tybo (Barnes, 1904), was determined to lie outside of Acronicta (but within Acronictinae), and given a new genus name: Chloronycta Schmidt and Anweiler, 2014. The works of Wagner, Schmidt, and their co-authors demonstrate the importance of utilizing all available lines of evidence when making taxonomic decisions. ...
Moths and caterpillars of the noctuid genus Acronicta Oschenheimer, 1816, widely known as dagger moths, have captured the imagination of taxonomists for centuries. Morphologically enigmatic adults and highly variable larvae prompted A. R. Grote to proclaim, "There would seem to be no genus which offers a more interesting field to the biologist for exploration," (1895). Without known synapomorphies for Acronicta, or the subfamily Acronictinae, their circumscriptions have changed over time. This dissertation delves into the taxonomic history of these taxa, setting the stage for a worldwide phylogenetic analysis of Acronictinae. The diversity of larval forms is considered in a tri-trophic framework, quantifying bottom up (host plant) and top down (predator) effects through measures of diet breadth, morphology, and behavior, all in a phylogenetic context. Adult courtship structures, present in some acronictine species, are scored across the family Noctuidae, to aid in the study of the evolution of complex morphological traits.
... Fibiger et al., 2009;Lafontaine & Schmidt, 2010;Kishida, 2011). The recent transfer of Agriopodes fallax (Herrich-Schäffer) to Acronicta by Schmidt et al. (2014) is corroborated, as is the transfer of Merolonche to Acronicta by Lafontaine & Schmidt (2010). Acronicta perblanda Ferguson -a small, odd-looking moth from cypress swamps -is confirmed as an Acronicta, although its position within the genus is unstable. ...
We present results of an eight-gene molecular study of the subfamily Acronictinae and related Noctuidae. Amphipyrinae are recovered as sister to Acronictinae, but with weak support - not surprisingly, the content of the two subfamilies has often been mixed in classifications. Balsinae, previously placed near Acronictinae or within Noctuinae, is recovered within an unresolved polytomy of Cuculliinae, Eustrotiinae, Raphiinae and Dilobinae. Gerbathodes Warren, Moma Hübner and Nacna Fletcher are excluded from Acronictinae. Three genera recently transferred into the subfamily - Cerma Hübner, Chloronycta Schmidt & Anweiler and Comachara Franclemont - are confirmed as acronictines. Lophonycta Sugi (the type genus of Lophonyctinae) is returned to the Acronictinae. Sinocharis Püngeler, formerly considered to be Acontiinae or as the basis of its own subfamily Sinocharinae, is nested within early diverging Acronictinae genera. Both subfamilies are formally synonymized: i.e. Lophonyctinae syn.n. and Sinocharinae syn.n. Nine acronictine genus-level taxa were found to nest within the nominate genus Acronicta Ochsenheimer: Eogena Guenée, Hyboma Hübner, Hylonycta Sugi, Jocheaera Hübner, Oxicesta Hübner, Simyra Ochsenheimer, Subacronicta Kozhanchikov, Triaena Hübner, and Viminia Chapman. Eogena, Oxicesta, and Simyra, currently treated as valid genera, nest within terminal clades of the genus Acronicta and are here subsumed within the genus: Eogena syn.n., Oxicesta syn.n. and Simyra syn.n. Four well-supported species groups within Acronicta are identified: the alni clade, the leporina clade, the nervosa clade and the psi clade. While many previous treatments have stated explicitly that Acronictinae lack abdominal scent brushes, or excluded genera with brushes from the subfamily, we show that well-developed brushes are present in three early diverging acronictine genera: Cerma, Lophonycta, and Sinocharis. We illustrate and describe the brushes of all three genera, and briefly review the taxonomic distribution of the anterior abdominal courtship brushes in Noctuidae, emphasizing the labile evolutionary distribution of these structures.
... Fibiger et al., 2009;Lafontaine & Schmidt, 2010;Kishida, 2011). The recent transfer of Agriopodes fallax (Herrich-Schäffer) to Acronicta by Schmidt et al. (2014) is corroborated, as is the transfer of Merolonche to Acronicta by Lafontaine & Schmidt (2010). Acronicta perblanda Ferguson -a small, odd-looking moth from cypress swamps -is confirmed as an Acronicta, although its position within the genus is unstable. ...
Highly variable larvae in the genus Acronicta prompted A.R. Grote to proclaim "There would seem to be no genus which offers a more interesting field to the biologist for exploration" (Grote, 1895). Along with related genera in the subfamily Acronictinae, Acronicta underwent a whirlwind of taxonomic revision in its infancy, rife with synonyms and rivalries between lepidopterists. Controversies have not lessened over time; splitting and lumping within Acronictinae has led to taxonomic instability and discordance between naming systems around the world. There are no clear synapomorphies for Acronictinae or Acronicta, making it difficult to sort the species based on morphology. To address this issue we inferred a phylogeny of Acronicta based on one mitochondrial gene (COI) and seven nuclear gene regions (EF-1α, RpS5, CAD, MDH, GAPDH, IDH and wingless) from over 70 specimens from North America, Europe, and Japan. Six genera were synonymized within Acronicta, as their continued recognition would render the genus paraphyletic. Results from maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses were used to explore morphological, behavioral, and life history evolution in Acronicta larvae. The caterpillars sport an array of hair types, color patterns, resting postures, pupation habits, defensive behaviors, and host utilization patterns. We hypothesize that some of these characters, such as hair types and defensive behaviors, are evolving together in response to predation pressures. Characters were scored for each species that we were able to rear and analyzed using BayesTraits.
... Fibiger et al., 2009;Lafontaine & Schmidt, 2010;Kishida, 2011). The recent transfer of Agriopodes fallax (Herrich-Schäffer) to Acronicta by Schmidt et al. (2014) is corroborated, as is the transfer of Merolonche to Acronicta by Lafontaine & Schmidt (2010). Acronicta perblanda Ferguson -a small, odd-looking moth from cypress swamps -is confirmed as an Acronicta, although its position within the genus is unstable. ...
I will present a well-supported phylogenetic tree for all major clades North American Acronictinae (Dagger Moths) based on seven nuclear and one mitochondrial genes. Two currently recognized genera are shown to fall within the nominate genus. I will also discuss the extraordinary phenotypic evolution exhibited by acronictine larvae--both among species as well as within the ontogeny of a single species.
A total of 124 additions and corrections are listed and discussed for the check list of the Noctuoidea of North America north of Mexico published in 2010. Twenty-eight species are added to the list, 16 through new species descriptions, eight as a result of taxonomic splits, and four based on newly recorded species. Forty-eight species are deleted from the list, 41 through synonymy, and seven that were based on misidentifications. Twelve changes are corrections in the spelling of names, or changes in parentheses on dates of publication. Twenty-seven are changes in taxonomy of names where no species are added or deleted; eight changes involve the renumbering of existing species for better taxonomic arrangement. Within the text 2 stat. n., 10 stat. rev., 27 syn. n., 5 syn. rev., and 1 comb. n. are proposed for the first time.
The scattered information regarding the Australo‐Papuan noctuid genus Pachythrix Turner, 1942 is consolidated to provide an overview of this little‐known group of bright green and black‐coloured moths. Nomenclatural comments are provided to challenge current opinion that the genus is based on a misidentified type species. Current evidence supporting its systematic relationships and subfamilial placement is reviewed, showing that the present concepts of genera like Thalatha Walker, 1862 and Pachythrix itself are polyphyletic. Pachythrix mniochlora (Meyrick, 1889) is shown to be misplaced in the genus. Pachythrix chlorophylla sp. nov. from the Bismarck Archipelago is described. This species is the first member of the genus to have been recorded from the Bismarck Archipelago, the others occurring in New Guinea and Australia. The new species can easily be distinguished from its congeners superficially by more extended green areas on the fore wing and fewer black, subterminal wedges. Diagnostic criteria and illustrations of all species currently assigned to the genus are provided.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aen.12504
Acronicta geminata (Draudt, 1950) has been described from China, Batang and treated by authors (Poole 1989; Gyulai, Ronkay, 2009; Han & Kononenko 2011) as a valid species. The New World arconictine genus Agriopodes Hampson comprised seven species including A. geminata (Smith, 1903). Schmidt et al. (2014) synonymised Agriopodes with Acronicta Ochsenheimer and A. geminata with A. fallax (Herrich-Schäffer). So, despite synonymy of fallax and geminata, at present there are two taxa with name geminata within the genus Acronicta, and A. geminata (Draudt, 1950) should be treated as a minor secondary homonym of A. geminata (Smith, 1903). A. geminata (Draudt, 1950) has no synonyms and according article 60 of ICZN (1999), the name geminata should be replaced on another one for this species.
