''Malickyella'' is a genus of

snout moth The Pyralidae, commonly called pyralid moths, snout moths or grass moths, are a family (biology), family of Lepidoptera in the ditrysian Taxonomic rank, superfamily Pyraloidea. In many (particularly older) classifications, the grass moths (Cramb ...

in the species-rich subfamily

Spilomelinae Spilomelinae is a very species-rich subfamily of the lepidopteran family Crambidae, the crambid snout moths. With 4,180 described species in 351 genera worldwide, it is the most speciose group among pyraloidea, pyraloids. Description Imagines ...

of the family

Crambidae Crambidae comprises the grass moth family of lepidopterans. They are variable in appearance, with the nominal subfamily Crambinae (grass moths) taking up closely folded postures on grass stems where they are inconspicuous, while other subfamilies ...

. The genus was described in 2010 by the German entomologists Wolfram Mey and Wolfgang Speidel based on material from

South-East Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Australian mainland, which is part of Oceania. Southeast Asia i ...

. The four species of the genus are distributed in the lowland forests of the

Indomalayan realm The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia. Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Ind ...

, stretching from the Indian state of

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

to the Philippines. Although the larvae have not been described in detail, the larval food plant for at least one species is known: '' M. lobophoralis'' is feeding on '' Neobalanocarpus heimii'', a hardwood tree species in the

Dipterocarpaceae Dipterocarpaceae is a family (biology), family of flowering plants with 22 genera and about 695 known species of mainly lowland tropical forest trees. Their distribution is pantropical, from northern South America to Africa, the Seychelles, India ...

family. The genus was named in honour of Prof. Dr. Hans Malicky, a renowned

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

and specialist of

caddisflies The caddisflies (order Trichoptera) are a group of insects with aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults. There are approximately 14,500 described species, most of which can be divided into the suborders Integripalpia and Annulipalpia on the basis ...

, on the occasion of his 75th birthday.

Species

''Malickyella'' currently comprises the following four species: *'' Malickyella brunnea'' Mey & Speidel, 2010 *'' Malickyella iriusalis'' (Walker, 1859) *'' Malickyella lobophoralis'' (Hampson, 1896) (

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

) *'' Malickyella tigridalis'' (Hampson, 1897)

Systematics

The genus was created for the species of the ''Eoophyla lobophoralis'' species group, which was found to be misplaced in ''

Eoophyla ''Eoophyla'' is a genus of moths of the family Crambidae. It was erected by Charles Swinhoe in 1900. Species *''angustalis'' species group **''Eoophyla angustalis'' (Sauber in Semper, 1902) **''Eoophyla becki'' Mey, 2009 **''Eoophyla fontis'' Sp ...

'' and in the

Acentropinae Acentropinae is a fairly small subfamily of the lepidopteran family Crambidae, the crambid snout moths. Species of this subfamily are exclusively found in wetlands and aquatic habitats. Systematics In modern treatments, the former subfa ...

subfamily altogether. The

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

of ''Malickyella'' is not known as of yet, but the species of ''Malickyella'' resemble the

Musotiminae Musotiminae is a subfamily of the lepidopteran family Crambidae. It was described by Edward Meyrick in 1884 Genera *''Aeolopetra'' *''Albusambia'' *''Ambia (moth), Ambia'' (= ''Metathyrida'' , ''Metathyridia'' ) *''Austromusotima'' *''Baeopt ...

species '' Ambia albomaculalis'' and '' Musotima decoralis'', which, however, might be misplaced in their respective genera. The genus is also currently not placed in any of the Spilomelinae

tribes The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q85783472 Spilomelinae Crambidae genera