''Phycita'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of small

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 w ...

s belonging to the

snout moth 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 Pyralida ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

(Pyralidae). They are the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearing type of a nominal f ...

of their

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 language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...

Phycitini The Phycitini are a tribe of moths of the family Pyralidae. Genera Some significant species are also listed. * '' Abareia'' Whalley, 1970 * ''Acrobasis'' Zeller, 1839 * '' Addyme'' Walker, 1863 * '' Alberada'' Heinrich, 1939 (sometimes listed a ...

and of the huge snout moth subfamily

Phycitinae The Phycitinae are a subfamily of snout moths (family Pyralidae). Even though the Pyralidae subfamilies are all quite diverse, Phycitinae stand out even by standards of their family: with over 600 genera considered valid and more than 4000 specie ...

. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

of this widespread genus is ''

Phycita roborella ''Phycita roborella'' is a moth of the family Pyralidae. It is – under its junior synonym ''Tinea spissicella'' – the type species of its genus '' Phycita'', and by extension of the subfamily Phycitinae. It is found in Europe. The w ...

'', under its obsolete name ''Tinea spissicella''. This is believed by many authors to have been described in

Johan Christian Fabricius Johan Christian Fabricius (7 January 1745 – 3 March 1808) was a Danish zoologist, specialising in "Insecta", which at that time included all arthropods: insects, arachnids, crustaceans and others. He was a student of Carl Linnaeus, and is cons ...

' ''Entomologia systematica'' in the 1790s. However, it appears that Fabricius described the species in his 1776/1777 ''Genera insectorum'' already. Fabricius himself established the present genus under the name ''Phycis''. But this name had already been used for a genus of northern hakes by

Peter Artedi Peter Artedi or Petrus Arctaedius (27 February 170528 September 1735) was a Swedish naturalist who is known as the "father of ichthyology". Artedi was born in Anundsjö in the province of Ångermanland. Intending to become a clergyman, he went ...

in his catalogue of fishes (''Petri Artedi sueci genera piscium''), edited and published posthumously by

Johann Julius Walbaum Johann Julius Walbaum (30 June 1724 – 21 August 1799) was a German physician, naturalist and fauna taxonomist. Works As an ichthyologist, he was the first to describe many previously unknown fish species from remote parts of the globe, such ...

in 1792. When this name was replaced, Fabricius' earlier description of the type species was overlooked, eventually rendering it a ''

nomen oblitum In zoological nomenclature, a ''nomen oblitum'' (plural: ''nomina oblita''; Latin for "forgotten name") is a disused scientific name which has been declared to be obsolete (figuratively 'forgotten') in favour of another 'protected' name. In its p ...

''. In any case, the same moth had been first described as ''Phalaena'' (''Tinea'') ''roborella'' by

Michael Denis Johann Nepomuk Cosmas Michael Denis, also: ''Sined the Bard'', (27 September 1729 – 29 September 1800) was an Austrian Catholic priest and Jesuit, who is best known as a poet, bibliographer, and lepidopterist. Life Denis was born at Schärding ...

and

Ignaz Schiffermüller Ignaz Schiffermüller (born 2 October 1727 in Hellmonsödt; died 21 June 1806 in Linz) was an Austrian naturalist mainly interested in Lepidoptera. Schiffermüller was a teacher at the Theresianum College in Vienna. His collection was presented ...

in 1775, and thus their species name has priority over that of Fabricius. Replacement names for Fabricius' ''Phycis'' were proposed at almost the same time in 1828 by John Curtis and

Ludwig Thienemann Friedrich August Ludwig Thienemann ( 25 December 1793, Freyburg – 24 June 1858, Dresden) was a German physician and naturalist. Ludwig Thienemann was the son of Johann August Thienemann (1749–1812) and Johanne Eleonora Friederike née Schr ...

, but the latter's proposal ''Ceratium'' was also unavailable, having been established for a dinoflagellate genus by

Franz von Paula Schrank Franz von Paula Schrank (21 August 1747, in Vornbach – 22 December 1835) was a German priest, botanist and entomologist. He was ordained as a priest in Vienna in 1784, gaining his doctorate in theology two years later. In 1786 he was named ...

in 1793. To add further confusion, some authors have claimed that ''Ceratium'' was again established for the present genus in 1848 by

Johannes von Nepomuk Franz Xaver Gistel Johannes von Nepomuk Franz Xaver Gistel istl(11 August 1809 – 9 March 1873) was a German naturalist. He worked at the Museum of Natural History in Regensburg, and wrote on a range of topics under the pseudonyms Garduus and G. Tilesius (an a ...

, but this is not correct – Gistel merely discussed Thienemann's and v. Schrank's names and (unnecessarily) proposed ''Gyra'' to replace the latter, adding yet another invalid name to the synonymy of ''Phycita''. ''Phycita'' species can be hard to tell apart from related moths in the field. The combination of 11

veins Veins are blood vessels in humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are the pulmonary and umbilical veins, both of which carry oxygenated b ...

in the forewing (vein 7 missing altogether) and an upward-pointing "snout" formed by the long and straight labial palps, whose second segment is much longer than the third, may be diagnostic. The

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...

's food plants are not comprehensively documented, but seem to include trees of the

eurosids I The rosids are members of a large clade (monophyletic group) of flowering plants, containing about 70,000 species, more than a quarter of all angiosperms. The clade is divided into 16 to 20 orders, depending upon circumscription and classificatio ...

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

and perhaps others.Clarke (1986), and see references in Savela (2011)

Selected species

Species In biology, a species is the basic unit of 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 the appropriate s ...

of ''Phycita'' include: * '' Phycita aceris'' Schernijazova, 1974 * '' Phycita amygdali'' Schernijazova, 1974 * '' Phycita arabica'' Asselbergs, 2008 * '' Phycita caiella'' de Joannis, 1913 * '' Phycita characterica'' Asselbergs, 2009 * '' Phycita clientella'' Zeller, 1867 * '' Phycita coronatella'' (Guenée, 1845) * '' Phycita demidovi'' Guillermet, 2007 * '' Phycita diaphana'' (Staudinger, 1870) * '' Phycita eulepidella'' Hampson, 1896 * '' Phycita fuscopilella'' Chrétien * '' Phycita hyssarica'' Schernijazova, 1974 * '' Phycita macrodontella'' (Ragonot, 1887) * '' Phycita meliella'' * '' Phycita metzneri'' (Zeller, 1846) * '' Phycita nephodeella'' Ragonot, 1887 * '' Phycita orthoclina'' (Meyrick, 1929) * '' Phycita pectinicornella'' Fryer, 1912 * '' Phycita pedisignella'' Ragonot, 1887 * '' Phycita poteriella'' (Zeller, 1846) * '' Phycita rhapta'' (Turner, 1947) * ''

'' (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775) * '' Phycita strigata'' (Staudinger, 1879) * '' Phycita torrenti'' Agenjo, 1962 * '' Phycita trachystola'' Turner, 1904 * '' Phycita venalbellus'' (de Joannis, 1922)

Footnotes

References

* (1986)
Pyralidae and Microlepidoptera of the Marquesas Archipelago
''Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology'' 416: 1-485. PDF (214 MB!) * (2004)
Butterflies and Moths of the World, Generic Names and their Type-species
&ndash
''Phycita''
Version of 5 November 2004. Retrieved 27 May 2011. * (2011): Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' &ndash

Version of 6 March 2011. Retrieved 27 May 2011. {{Taxonbar, from=Q7188407 Phycitini Pyralidae genera