The Micronoctuini are a

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

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of ...

s in the family Erebidae that includes about 400 described

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

. Typical species in the tribe have bifine hindwing venation (unlike most of the related subfamily Hypenodinae) and are smaller than those in other noctuoid moths. ''

Micronoctua karsholti ''Micronoctua'' is a monotypic moth genus of the family Erebidae. Its only species, ''Micronoctua karsholti'', is known from southern Turkey, Cyprus, the islands of south-east Greece, and the northern Levant (including Lebanon, Syria and Israel). ...

'' is the smallest of all species in the superfamily Noctuoidea.

Taxonomic history

Before the initial description of the tribe as the family Micronoctuidae in 2005, about 20 species were described in the families

Arctiidae The Arctiinae (formerly called the family Arctiidae) are a large and diverse subfamily of moths with around 11,000 species found all over the world, including 6,000 neotropical species.Scoble, MJ. (1995). ''The Lepidoptera: Form, Function and D ...

(now Arctiinae),

Noctuidae The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are a family of moths. They are considered the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly changing, along with the othe ...

, Nolidae (now Nolinae) and

Pyralidae The Pyralidae, commonly called pyralid moths, snout moths or grass moths, are a family of Lepidoptera in the ditrysian superfamily Pyraloidea. In many (particularly older) classifications, the grass moths (Crambidae) are included in the Pyra ...

. The first species now referable to the tribe were named by Walker in 1863. Species of this tribe are rare in collections, possibly because most species are drably coloured (often a unicolorous brown, grey, or black) and are extremely small. Furthermore,

lepidopterist Lepidopterology ()) is a branch of entomology concerning the scientific study of moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies. Someone who studies in this field is a lepidopterist or, archaically, an aurelian. Origins Post- Renaissance, t ...

s specialising in macrolepidoptera ignore these species, thinking they belong to the

microlepidoptera Microlepidoptera (micromoths) is an artificial (i.e., unranked and not monophyletic) grouping of moth families, commonly known as the 'smaller moths' ( micro, Lepidoptera). These generally have wingspans of under 20 mm, and are thus harder ...

instead, while microlepidopterists collect them but usually classify them with unknown miscellaneous microlepidoptera. An extensive, four-part revision of the Micronoctuidae was published by Michael Fibiger from 2007 to 2011 (see References section), describing dozens of species for their first time and classifying them into subfamilies and tribes. A subsequent series of studies of the higher-level classification of the superfamily Noctuoidea showed that the phylogenetic placement of Micronoctuidae is as a clade within the subfamily Hypenodinae of the family Erebidae. This reclassification moved Micronoctuidae to the tribe Micronoctuini, its subfamilies to subtribes, and presumably its original tribes to infratribes.

Distribution

The Micronoctuini are only known from the

Old World The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by th ...

, mainly in the tropics and subtropics, but also in the temperate zone of eastern Asia. They inhabit many different biotopes, including sand deserts, stone deserts, semi-deserts, grass steppes, bush steppes, steppes with bushes and trees, savannah, open dry forests, dense dry forests, moist always deciduous forests and rainforests. They are found from

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

in Africa to

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

in the Pacific and from the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admin ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

and northern

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in Australia.

Subtribes (former subfamilies)

Belluliina The Belluliina are a subtribe of moths of the family Erebidae. The clade was described by Michael Fibiger in 2008. Taxonomy The subtribe was originally described as the subfamily Belluliinae of the family Micronoctuidae. Clades (former tribes) ...

Fibiger, 2008 *

Magnina The Magnina are a subtribe of moths of the family Erebidae described by Michael Fibiger in 2008. Taxonomy The subtribe was originally described as the subfamily Magninae of the family Micronoctuidae. Clades (former tribes) and genera *''Magna'' ...

Fibiger, 2008 * Micronoctuina Fibiger, 2005 *

Parachrostiina The Parachrostiina are a subtribe of moths of the family Erebidae. This clade was described by Michael Fibiger in 2008. Taxonomy The subtribe was originally described as the subfamily Parachrostiinae of the family Micronoctuidae. Clades (former ...

Fibiger, 2008 *

Pollexina The Pollexina are a subtribe of moths of the family Erebidae. The genus was erected by Michael Fibiger in 2007. Taxonomy The subtribe was originally described as the subfamily Pollexinae of the family Micronoctuidae. Genera *''Tolpia'' Walker, ...

Fibiger, 2007 *

Tactusina The Tactusina are a subtribe of moths of the family Erebidae. The clade was described by Michael Fibiger in 2010. Taxonomy The subtribe was originally described as the subfamily Tactusinae of the family Micronoctuidae. Clades (former tribes) an ...

Fibiger, 2010 *

Tentaxina The Tentaxina are a subtribe of moths of the family Erebidae. The clade was described by Michael Fibiger in 2011. Taxonomy The subtribe was originally described as the subfamily Tentaxinae of the family Micronoctuidae. Genera *''Acusa'' Fibiger ...

Fibiger, 2011

References

* * * * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q19591080 Hypenodinae Moth tribes