Larentiinae, Duponchel, 1845

Pohl, Greg, Anweiler, Gary, Schmidt, Christian & Kondla, Norbert, 2010, An annotated list of the Lepidoptera of Alberta, Canada, ZooKeys 38 (38), pp. 1-549 : 195

55.1. Larentiinae – carpet moths

Medium-sized moths (approximately 15–35 mm wingspan) with complex patterns of transverse bands. Th ey can be separated from other geometrids by wing venation: on the hindwing, the Sc + R 1 veins are fused with the Rs vein for more than one-quarter the length of the discal cell. No other easily observable characters define the group. Larvae of most species feed on the foliage of trees; a few species of Eupithecia in Hawaii are carnivorous on aphids and spiders. Th e Larentiinae includes a few forest pest species such as the winter moths ( Operophtera spp.).

Approximately 5700 species of Larentiinae are known worldwide, primarily from temperate regions. Approximately 470 species occur in North America; 137 are known from AB. Th is subfamily is in need of taxonomic work, and many specimens in collections have not been adequately identified because of the diffi culty in making species determinations. Some groups are reasonably well known, including Anticlea ( Rindge 1967) , some Dysstroma ( McDunnough 1946a) , Entephria ( Troubridge 1997) , Eubaphe ( Fletcher 1954) , Canadian Eupithecia ( Bolte 1990) , some Hydriomena ( McDunnough 1954) , Operophtera ( Troubridge and Fitzpatrick 1993) , Plemyria ( Choi 1998) , and Rheumaptera ( Skou 1986) . McGuffi n (1958b) treated the known larvae.