''Paraona'' is a disputed genus of

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

s in the family

Erebidae The Erebidae are a family (biology), family of moths in the superfamily Noctuoidea. The family is among the largest families of moths by species count and contains a wide variety of well-known macromoth groups. The family includes the underwin ...

, considered synonymous to '' Macrobrochis'' by some but not all

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

Taxonomy and status

''Paraona'' was erected by

Frederic Moore Frederic Moore FZS (13 May 1830 – 10 May 1907) was a British entomologist and illustrator. He produced six volumes of ''Lepidoptera Indica'' and a catalogue of the birds in the collection of the East India Company. It has been said that Mo ...

in 1878 around the species originally described as ''Crambomorpha splendens'' by

Arthur Gardiner Butler Arthur Gardiner Butler F.L.S., F.Z.S. (27 June 1844 – 28 May 1925) was an English entomologist, arachnologist and ornithologist. He worked at the British Museum on the taxonomy of birds, insects, and spiders. Biography Arthur Gardiner B ...

in 1877.

Sergei Alphéraky Sergei Nikolaevich Alphéraky (also Alferaki; ; 14 April 1850 – ) was a Greek-Russian ornithologist and entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera. Sergei Alphéraky was born in Kharkov into the noble Greek family of Alferakis. He was the bro ...

described an additional species, ''Paraona staudingeri'', in 1897. In 1993, the genus—at the time placed to family Arctiidae—was deemed a junior synonym of '' Macrobrochis'' by Yasunori Kishida. This synonymization was based upon the strong likeness of the male genitalia of ''Paraona staudingeri'' to those of '' Macrobrochis gigas'', and explicitly did not involve examination of the type species of ''Paraona''. This classification was subsequently followed by Jeremy Daniel Holloway in 2001 in Part 7 of his book series ''The Moths of Borneo''. In 2012, the genus was restored by Vladimir Dubatolov, Kishida and Min Wang, based on dissimilarity of the male genitalia of ''Paraonas type species, ''Crambomorpha splendens'', to those of ''Macrobrochis''. Following the restoration of the genus, it was once more treated as valid by subsequent authors. In 2024, the genus was once again synonymized with ''Macrobrochis'', this time by Anton Volynkin, who stated that the 2012 restoration of the genus was based on a specimen held by Museum Witt Munich "identified by an unknown identifier as ''" and which is "dissimilar to the illustrations of ''P. splendens''" by both the generic taxon author

and those by

George Hampson Sir George Francis Hampson, 10th Baronet (14 January 1860 – 15 October 1936) was an English entomologist. Hampson studied at Charterhouse School and Exeter College, Oxford. He travelled to India to become a tea-planter in the Nilgiri Hills ...

. He concluded the specimen, rather than represent ''Paraona splendens'', was instead a different, previously undescribed species he named '' Murmyshia obscuria''.

Selected species

*'' Paraona staudingeri'' Alphéraky, 1897

Former species

These were moved by Anton V. Volynkin in 2024 *''Paraona bicolor'' Toulgoët, 1968 now ''Eilema bicolor'' *''Paraona cocciniceps'' (Mabille, 1884) now ''Eilema cocciniceps'' *''Paraona interjecta'' Strand, 1912 now ''Ilemodes interjecta'' *''Paraona micans'' (Pagenstecher, 1895) now '' Murmyshia micans'' *''Paraona splendens'' (Butler, 1877) now '' Macrobrochis splendens''

Notes

References

* * Lithosiina Moth genera {{Lithosiina-stub