Cladistic studies of the Arctiidae (Lepidoptera) and the genus Agylla (Arctiidae, Lithosiinae) using characters of the adult and larva

Relationships among exemplar species of the family Arctiidae and of the genus Agylla sensu Hampson were investigated using cladistic methods. The goal of both studies was to identify monophyletic groups within each.;Arctiidae appears to be monophyletic. However, several of its subfamilies are paraphyletic or polyphyletic. The Syntomini of Forbes do not form a monophyletic group with the Ctenuchini and the Euchromiini, nor are they separate from the arctiid clade as proposed by Minet. Instead, syntomine species belong in a clade with the Thyretinae of Kiriakoff. This is the sister clade to the Lithosiinae.;The Arctiinae, consisting of the Arctiini, Callimorphini, Nyctemerini, and Phaegopterini, are paraphyletic with respect to the Pericopinae and Ctenuchinae (without the Syntomini). The Arctiini and Callimorphini may be paraphyletic and the Phaegopterini appear to be polyphyletic, with the Euchaetes-group more closely related to the Callimorphini. The rest of the Phaegopterini, the Ctenuchini, and the Euchromiini make up a single clade.;The Lithosiinae are a well supported, monophyletic subfamily with at least two major lineages. Earlier work at the tribal level has been incomplete, identifying only small groups of genera with little understanding of the relationships among them. Agylla sensu Hampson was found to be polyphyletic. It is probable that other large genera and associated small genera will need to be subjected to similar analyses before tribal limits can be determined within the subfamily.;The species included in Agylla sensu Hampson are found in four separate clades. The clade containing the type species, Agylla fasciculata Walker, is very well supported. There are 97 species including those of 17 other genera that share the clade's synapomorphies. All of these species have a strictly New World distribution, ranging from Arizona in the United States to Bolivia.;Two of the other clades are also strictly New World, and are more closely related to Apistosia and Metareva than to the first clade. The fourth clade is strictly Old World and not closely related to the other three clades.