Galacticidae Minet, 1986, 1899

Mey, Wolfram, 2022, Taxonomic notes on Palearctic taxa of Galacticidae, a little-known family of Lepidoptera (Galacticoidea), Nota Lepidopterologica 45, pp. 169-190 : 169

Galacticidae Minet, 1986

Type genus.

Galactica Walsingham, 1911; by subsequent selection. Alexanor 14(7): 305-306.

Remarks.

In the phylogenetic tree of Heikkilä et al. (2015), which was based on a combination of molecular and morphological data, the family emerged in the Apoditrysia as sister group of Tortricoidea . A similar result was recovered by the molecular study of Regier et al. (2013). This placement is in contrast to the morphological results of Friese (1960, 1962, 1966), Moriuti (1963) and Kyrki (1984, 1990) who considered the group as belonging to the Yponomeutoidea . Alternative systematic positions in Tineoidea or Urodidae were proposed by Common (1990) and Heppner (1998) respectively. In fact, there are a number of morphological traits which are shared by Galacticidae and various groups in Tineoidea and Yponomeutoidea . To these characters should be added the presence of an unscaled, transparent patch in the hindwings at the wing base lying between Cu1 and Cu2. This character went widely unnoticed and, occurring in most examined species of Galacticidae , must be included in the taxonomic diagnosis of the family. The similar transparent patch in Yponomeuta has an array of ridges, which may be used to produce sounds ( Agassiz 2017). These ridges do not occur in the transparent patches of Galacticidae . The function of such patches and their occurrence in Microlepidoptera were recently investigated by O’Reilly (2021), who coined the term aeroelastic tymbals for those hyaline spots. They produce ultrasound by wingbeat movements and are thus acoustically active structures serving as an anti-bat defence.

Galacticinae Friese, 1966

Beitr. Ent. 16: 447 [in Plutellidae ]