''Phalaena'' is an obsolete genus of
Lepidoptera used by
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...
to house most
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.
''Phalaena'' was one of three genera used by Linnaeus to cover all
Lepidoptera. ''
Papilio'' included all
butterflies at that time, ''
Sphinx
A sphinx ( , grc, σφίγξ , Boeotian: , plural sphinxes or sphinges) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of a falcon.
In Greek tradition, the sphinx has the head of a woman, the haunches of ...
'' included all
hawk moth
The Sphingidae are a family of moths (Lepidoptera) called sphinx moths, also colloquially known as hawk moths, with many of their caterpillars known as “hornworms”; it includes about 1,450 species. It is best represented in the tropics, but ...
s, and ''Phalaena'' included all the remaining moths. 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 specime ...
was ''Phalaena typica''
(now ''
Naenia typica'' in the family
Noctuidae).
''Phalaena'' has been declared a ' by the
International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, for the purposes of
priority, but not
homonymy.
Seven
subgenera were raised to the rank of
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
as follows:
*''Alucita''
Linnaeus, 1767 –
Alucitidae
*''Attacus''
Linnaeus, 1767 –
Saturniidae
Saturniidae, commonly known as saturniids, is a family of Lepidoptera with an estimated 2,300 described species. The family contains some of the largest species of moths in the world. Notable members include the emperor moths, royal moths, and gi ...
*''Bombyx''
Linnaeus, 1758 –
Bombycidae
The Bombycidae are a family of moths. The best-known species is ''Bombyx mori'' (Linnaeus) or silkworm, native to northern China and domesticated for millennia. Another well-known species is ''Bombyx mandarina'', also native to Asia.
Taxonomy
Th ...
*''Geometra''
Linnaeus, 1758 –
Geometridae
The geometer moths are moths belonging to the family Geometridae of the insect order Lepidoptera, the moths and butterflies. Their scientific name derives from the Ancient Greek ''geo'' γεω (derivative form of or "the earth"), and ''metro ...
*''Noctua''
Linnaeus, 1758 –
Noctuidae
*''Pyralis''
Linnaeus, 1758 –
Pyralidae
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 ...
*''Tinea''
Linnaeus, 1758 –
Tineidae
Tineidae is a family of moths in the order Lepidoptera described by Pierre André Latreille in 1810. Collectively, they are known as fungus moths or tineid moths. The family contains considerably more than 3,000 species in more than 300 genera. ...
*''Tortrix''
Linnaeus, 1758 –
Tortricidae
The Tortricidae are a family of moths, commonly known as tortrix moths or leafroller moths, in the order Lepidoptera. This large family has over 11,000 species described, and is the sole member of the superfamily Tortricoidea, although the genus ...
References
Obsolete arthropod taxa
Moth genera
{{moth-stub