PHYLOGENY AND COMPOSITION OF THE HIEROXESTINAE (LEPIDOPTERA, TINEIDAE)

The tineid subfamily Hieroxestinae, comprising 275 Valid species, is r eviewed. The morphology of the group is examined and a fully resolved phylogeny presented for the six constituent genera. Eighteen generic s ynonyms are noted of which three are new; fourteen specific synonyms a re noted, one of them new. Seventy-one new specific combinations are e stablished. A comprehensive checklist of species is provided as an app endix. Three species are left unplaced in Oinophila sensu late, and tw o species (one with two subspecies) are transferred to Oecophoridae (S tathmopodinae). The biology of the Hieroxestinae is briefly reviewed. Hieroxestinae larvae are predominantly detritophagous but several spec ies feed facultatively on green plant material, and Opogona sacchari i s a pest of seedlings and nursery stock in the U.S.A. and Mediterranea n region. The group is predominantly tropical and is distributed throu ghout the world but is depauperate in the Americas. There has been con siderable radiation of Opogona and Amphixystis on the islands of the I ndian Ocean that lie within the Malagasy Subregion (Seychelles, Maurit ius, Reunion, etc.) where there are fifty-three endemic species. A les ser radiation of Opogona (twenty species) has occurred on St Helena.