Plusiinae

Gold spot Plusia festucae, copyright Ilia Ustyantsev.

Belongs within: Noctuidae.

The Plusiinae are a cosmopolitan group of moths commonly bearing a pale, often metallic, marking at the centre of the fore wings.

Characters (from Nielsen & Common 1991): Dorsal thoracic crest and dorsal abdominal tufts present, eyes lashed, fore wing often with silver markings (‘silver Ys’), metepimeron with distinct external bulge, double tympanal hood; larva without ventral prolegs on segments 3 and 4, crochets in biordinal mesoseries, without secondary setae; pupa in flimsy cocoon.

Plusiinae [Plusidae] NC91
    |  i. s.: Thysanoplusia orichalcea NC91
    |         Anadevidia peponis NC91
    |         Chrysodeixis NC91
    |           |--C. argentifera NC91
    |           `--C. eriosoma G84
    |         Euchalcia ZK11
    |--Abrostola [Abrostolini] ZK11
    |    |--A. asclepiadis F92
    |    |--A. tripartita F92
    |    |--A. triplasia F92
    |    `--A. urentis T69
    `--Plusiini ZK11
         |--Autographa ZK11
         |    |--A. brassicae B37
         |    |--A. californica KP99
         |    |--A. gamma ZK11
         |    |--A. iota F92
         |    `--A. precationis T69
         `--Plusia P01
              |--P. aereoides T69
              |--P. argentifera C70
              |--P. chalcites C70
              |--P. chryson F92
              |--P. deaurata F92
              |--P. eriosoma P01
              |--P. festucae JP05
              |--P. furcifera WM66
              |--P. gamma F92
              |--P. gutta P01
              |--P. interrogationis F92
              |--P. jota F92
              |--P. putnami JP05
              |    |--P. p. putnami JP05
              |    `--P. p. gracilis Lempke 1966 JP05
              `--P. verticillata WM66

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B37] Balduf, W. V. 1937. Bionomic notes on the common bagworm, Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis Haw., (Lepid., Psychidae) and its insect enemies (Hym., Lepid.). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 39 (7): 169–184.

[C70] Common, I. F. B. 1970. Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers pp. 765–866. Melbourne University Press.

[F92] Fan Z. 1992. Key to the Common Flies of China 2^nd ed. Science Press: Beijing.

[G84] Gauld, I. D. 1984. An Introduction to the Ichneumonidae of Australia. British Museum (Natural History).

[JP05] Jungmann, E., & U. Poller. 2005. Neunachweise und Wiederfunde für die Schmetterlingsfauna (Insecta; Lepidoptera) des Altenburger Landes. Mauritiana 19 (2): 317–326.

[KP99] Kuzio, J., M. N. Pearson, S. H. Harwood, C. J. Funk, J. T. Evans, J. M. Slavicek & G. F. Rohrmann. 1999. Sequence and analysis of the genome of a baculovirus pathogenic for Lymantria dispar. Virology 253: 17–34.

[NC91] Nielsen, E. S., & I. F. B. Common. 1991. Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 2 pp. 817–915. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[P01] Pável, J. 1901. Lepkék [Lepidopteren]. In: Horváth, G. (ed.) Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazása [Dritte Asiatische Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] vol. 2. Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazásának Állattani Eredményei [Zoologische Ergebnisse der Dritten Asiatischen Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] pp. 171–177. Victor Hornyánszky: Budapest, and Karl W. Hierseman: Leipzig.

[T69] Treat, A. E. 1969. The genus Dicrocheles: three new species and a reappraisal. Acarologia 11 (4): 630–656.

[WM66] Wallace, A. R., & F. Moore. 1866. List of lepidopterous insects collected at Takow, Formosa, by Mr. R. Swinhoe. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 355–365.

[ZK11] Zahiri, R., I. J. Kitching, J. D. Lafontaine, M. Mutanen, L. Kaila, J. D. Holloway & N. Wahlberg. 2011. A new molecular phylogeny offers hope for a stable family level classification of the Noctuoidea (Lepidoptera). Zoologica Scripta 40 (2): 158–173.