Phylogeny and classification of Endromidae (Lepidoptera: Bombycoidea) based on mitochondrial genomes

Abstract

The small, relict-like moth family Endromidae is well-established within the superfamily Bombycoidea, but relationships within the family have remained vague for the last decade, primarily due to very limited taxon sampling. This resulted in the explicit removal of all internal suprageneric classification by Zwick et al. (2011) when they synonymized Mirinidae and the bombycid subfamilies Oberthueriinae and Prismostictinae with Endromidae. Nucleotide and amino acid data sets of the 13 mitochondrial, protein-coding genes from representatives of 13 of the 16 accepted endromid genera were used to estimate phylogenetic relationships based on maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods. The results strongly support Endromidae as a monophyletic group and enable the establishment and diagnosis of four subfamilies (Endrominae, Mirininae stat. rev., Oberthueriinae stat. rev. and Prismostictinae stat. rev.). Within subfamily Oberthueriinae, we establish three tribes: Oberthueriini stat. rev., Andracini tribe nov. and Mustiliini tribe nov. We provide morphological diagnoses and a genus-level checklist for the three tribes. Promustilia yajiangensis Wang, X. & Zolotuhin, 2015 is transferred to Mustilizans as M. yajiangensis comb. nov. to establish reciprocal monophyly of the two genera, and Andraca gongshanensis is transferred to Pseudandraca as P. gongshanensis comb. nov. We also synonymize Andraca (Chrypathemola) syn. nov. with Andraca (Andraca), as the latter is deeply nested within the former.