Jewels of the desert: natural history and species-level phylogeny of Stiriinae (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae)

Abstract The subfamily Stiriinae (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) is a group of ∼160 described moth species, ∼91% of which occur in the Nearctic, with species diversity centered in the deserts, grasslands, and adjacent foothills of the mountain ranges of Mexico. We infer the first species-level phylogeny for the subfamily using 8 protein-coding genes. While some lineages are primarily leaf or flower feeders, the majority of the fauna are seed feeders. As such, they tend to have extremely specialized host associations, often targeting only a single species of Asteraceae in any given region, and many species have only one known hostplant species, making them especially at risk due to climate change and other forms of habitat loss. Members of the nominate genus display remarkable examples of larval hostplant masquerading that include ontogenetic matching of their hostplant phenology through its senescence. We make nomenclatural changes that significantly alter generic assignments in the subfamily. We describe the genus Tiburona Keegan & Wagner new gen.; transfer Basilodes dysnoa to Stiria as Stiria dysnoa (Dyar, 1912) new comb; reinstate the genus Polenta Morrison, 1875 stat. rev. as distinct from Plagiomimicus Grote, 1873 for the species Po. incomitatus (Mustelin, 2018) new comb., Po. mimica (Poole, 1995) new comb., Po. tepperi Morrison, 1875 stat. rev., Po. yakama (Crabo and Wikle, 2018) new comb., Po. argyropolia (Dyar, 1914) new comb., Po. phalaenoides (Dyar, 1918) new comb., and Po. psamathochromum (Dyar, 1909) new comb; restore Euedwardsia Grote, 1882 as a genus distinct from Xanthothrix Edwards, 1878 stat. rev.; synonymize Xanthothrix with Chrysoecia Hampson, 1908 stat. rev.; elevate Chrysoecia ranunculi f. albipuncta (Barnes and Benjamin, 1925) to species status as Chrysoecia albipuncta stat. rev.; and restore Cyptonychia Druce, 1899 stat. rev. as distinct from Chrysoecia for Cy. anaemica (Draudt, 1927) stat. rev., Cy. dulcita (Schaus, 1898) stat. rev., Cy. flaviceps Druce, 1899 stat. rev., Cy. muricolor (Dyar, [1927]) stat. rev., Cy. pseudovarra (Dyar, [1927]) stat. rev., Cy. salacon (Druce, 1895) stat. rev., Cy. simplicia (Dyar, [1927]) stat. rev., Cy. spreta (Draudt, 1927) stat. rev., Cy. subfumosa (Dyar, 1909) stat. rev., Cy. thoracica (Edwards, 1884) stat. rev., and Cy. varrara (Dyar, 1918) stat. rev.