The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are a family of moths. They are considered the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly changing, along with the other families of the Noctuoidea. It was considered the largest family in Lepidoptera for a long time, but after regrouping Lymantriinae, Catocalinae and Calpinae within the family Erebidae, the latter holds this title now. Currently, Noctuidae is the second largest family in Noctuoidea, with about 1,089 genera and 11,772 species. This classification is still contingent, as more changes continue to appear between Noctuidae and Erebidae.
The large yellow underwing is a moth, the type species for the family Noctuidae. It is an abundant species throughout the Palearctic realm, one of the most common and most familiar moths of the region. In some years the species is highly migratory with large numbers appearing suddenly in marginal parts of the range.
The shark is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
Schinia, commonly called flower moths, is a large genus of moths belonging to the family Noctuidae. The genus has a Holarctic distribution with the vast majority of species being found in North America, many with a very restricted range and larval food plant.
The Calpinae are a subfamily of moths in the family Erebidae described by Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1840. This subfamily includes many species of moths that have a pointed and barbed proboscis adapted to piercing the skins of fruit to feed on juice, and in the case of the several Calyptra species of vampire moths, to piercing the skins of mammals to feed on blood. The subfamily contains some large moths with wingspans longer than 5 cm (2 in).
Acronicta americana, the American dagger moth, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It was originally described by Thaddeus William Harris in 1841 and is native to North America.
Drasteria is a genus of moths in the family Erebidae.
Erythroecia was a genus of moths of the family Noctuidae, it is now considered a synonym of Psectrotarsia.
Psectrotarsia is a genus of moths of the family Noctuidae.
Actebia fennica, the black army cutworm or Eversmann's rustic, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by August Michael Tauscher in 1806. It has a Holarctic distribution from Newfoundland through western Europe, Siberia, the Far East, Mongolia, northern China to Korea and Japan. In North America it is mainly found in the boreal region, south to New England, southern Montana and northern Oregon.
Acronicta insita, the large gray dagger or fingered dagger, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Augustus Radcliffe Grote in 1874. It is found from Newfoundland west to the Pacific coast and Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, south to North Carolina and Colorado.
Heliothinae is a small, cosmopolitan subfamily of moths in the family Noctuidae, with about 400 described species worldwide. It includes a number of economically significant agricultural pest species, such as Helicoverpa armigera and Helicoverpa zea.
Psectrotarsia flava is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in Peru, west of the Andes.
Psectrotarsia suavis is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found from south-western South Dakota, extreme north-eastern and western Nebraska, northern and south-western Kansas, eastern Colorado, New Mexico east of the Rocky Mountains, southern Arizona, and the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas and in south central and south-western Texas. There are two records from Mexico, one from Chihuahua and one from San Luis Potosi.
Psectrotarsia euposis is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in several states around Mexico City.
Psectrotarsia rhodophora is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae. It is only known from Guatemala.
Zale submediana, the gray spring zale, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Embrik Strand in 1917. It is found in the US from Wisconsin to Maine, south to New Jersey and in mountains to North Carolina.
The Erebidae are a family of moths in the superfamily Noctuoidea. The family is among the largest families of moths by species count and contains a wide variety of well-known macromoth groups. The family includes the underwings (Catocala); litter moths (Herminiinae); tiger, lichen, and wasp moths (Arctiinae); tussock moths (Lymantriinae), including the arctic woolly bear moth ; piercing moths ; micronoctuoid moths (Micronoctuini); snout moths (Hypeninae); and zales, though many of these common names can also refer to moths outside the Erebidae. Some of the erebid moths are called owlets.
The Erebinae are a subfamily of moths in the family Erebidae erected by William Elford Leach in 1815. Erebine moths are found on all continents except Antarctica, but reach their greatest diversity in the tropics. While the exact number of species belonging to the Erebinae is not known, the subfamily is estimated to include around 10,000 species. Some well-known Erebinae include underwing moths (Catocala) and witch moths (Thermesiini). Many of the species in the subfamily have medium to large wingspans, up to nearly 30 cm in the white witch moth, which has the widest wingspan of all Lepidoptera. Erebine caterpillars feed on a broad range of plants; many species feed on grasses and legumes, and a few are pests of castor bean, sugarcane, rice, as well as pistachios and blackberries.
