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Taxonomy
Sphingulini Rothschild & Jordan, 1903
Nomenclature
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Family: SphingidaeSubfamily: Sphinginae
Tribe:
Sphingulini Rothschild & Jordan, 1903
Usage:
valid
Reference:
Type data:
Type genus: Sphingulus Staudinger, 1887, in Romanoff, Mém. Lép. 3: 156.
Taxonomic Notes:
In contrast to Rothschild & Jordan (1903), Kitching & Cadiou (2000) included tribe Sphingulini in subfamily Smerinthinae, implicitly giving more weight to similarities in the larvae and genitalia than to those in the habitus and wing pattern. However, the analysis of the higher classification of Sphingidae using five nuclear genes by Kawahara et al. (2009: Figure 2) demonstrated that tribe Sphingulini is not subordinate within subfamily Smerinthinae but that the placement by Rothschild & Jordan (1903) was correct after all. Nevertheless, Zolotuhin & Ryabov (2012) continued to treat Sphingulini as a smerinthine tribe, arguing that although this rendered the subfamily paraphyletic, "it is supposed that using another algorithm for constructing phylogram will help to clear this problem and avoid this contradiction". However, recent unpublished work by Kawahara and colleagues using an expanded taxon set still recovers the 2009 pattern, and so here, Sphingulini is treated as a subordinate taxon within Sphinginae. These studies also showed that the current concept of Sphingulini is paraphyletic, with the Australian taxa (represented by Hopliocnema) being placed as the sister-group of a clade comprising the remaining (Eurasian) Sphingulini plus the Sphinginae, a pattern overlooked by Zolotuhin & Ryabov (2012) (they considered it a "well limited compact group"). Consequently, a new tribe should be erected for the Australian genera and tribe Sphingulini restricted to Dolbina, Kentrochrysalis, Pentateucha and Sphingulus.
On the basis of male genital structure, Kitching & Cadiou (2000) provisionally transferred the genus Monarda to Sphingulini but subsequent study of the immature stages by Haxaire & Nogueira G. (2003) revealed that it is better placed back in Sphinginae (q.v.).
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Synonyms: 2