Macroglossina Harris, 1839

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Nomenclature

Subfamily: Macroglossinae

Tribe: Macroglossini

Subtribe:

Usage:

valid

Reference:

Descriptive catalogue of the North American insects belonging to the Linnaean genus Sphinx in the cabinet of Thaddeus William Harris, M.D., Librarian of Harvard University 287

Type data:

Type genus: Macroglossum Scopoli, 1777, Introd. Hist. nat.: 414.

Taxonomic Notes:

The analysis of the higher classification of Sphingidae using five nuclear genes by Kawahara et al. (2009: Figure 3) demonstrated that the group of genera comprising Daphnis, Nephele, Macroglossum and Temnora formed a monophyletic group, albeit without any branch support. However, recent unpublished results from a larger set of DNA sequence data have confirmed its monophyly, although with only moderate bootstrap support. Nevertheless, the group is here recognized as a more restricted concept of subtribe Macroglossina than hitherto employed. Following Kitching & Cadiou (2000), the genera Angonyx, Atemnora, Cizara, Eurypteryx, Giganteopalpus, Leucostrophus, Hayesiana, Maassenia, Rethera and Temnoripais are also included here, together with the more recently described genera, Altijuba, Pseudoangonyx and Zacria. In addition, the genera Antinephele, Hypaedalea and Pseudenyo are also provisionally included. However, the monophyly of the subtribe including all these additional genera remains to be demonstrated, particularly as the results of Kawahara et al. (2009: Figure 3) suggest that Angonyx at least may fall outside this subtribal concept.