Phymatopus

Phymatopus
Phymatopus hecta
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Hepialidae
Genus: Phymatopus
Wallengren, 1869 or auctt. nec Wallengren, 1869
Synonyms
  • Hepiolopsis Borner, 1920
  • Phimatopus

Phymatopus (originally: Phalaena Noctua Linnaeus, 1758) is a genus of moths of the family Hepialidae (commonly referred to as swift moths or ghost moths), which consists of around 700 species and 82 genera.[1] The genus was erected by Hans Daniel Johan Wallengren in 1869.[2] They can be found across Eurasia and North America. Species can be distinguished by the different morphology of male genitalia and different forewing patterns, which vary in stripe colour and size and arrangement of spots. The stripes themselves consist of spots separated by dark veins which are fringed by thin black lines from both inner and outer sides.[3]

  1. ^ John R. Grehan, Carlos G.C. Mielke, John R.G. Turner, and John E. Nielsen. 2023. A revised world catalogue of Ghost Moths (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae) with taxonomic and biological annotations. ZooNova 28: 1-313
  2. ^ Nielsen, E. S.; Robinson, G. S. & Wagner, D. L. (2000). "Ghost moths of the world: a global inventory and bibliography of the Exoporia (Mnesarchaeoidea and Hepialoidea) (Lepidoptera)". Journal of Natural History. 34 (6): 823–878. doi:10.1080/002229300299282. S2CID 86004391.
  3. ^ Tshistjakov, Y. A. (1996). "Taxonomic Study of the Far Eastern Hepialidae (Lepidoptera). Record 1. On Systematic Position of the Phymatopus Taxa Described from the East Palaearctic". Far Eastern Entomologist. 36: 1–8.