Carcharodini

Carcharodini
False mallow skipper (Carcharodus tripolina) Right hindwing damaged
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
(unranked):	Rhopalocera
Superfamily:	Hesperioidea
Family:	Hesperiidae
Subfamily:	Pyrginae
Tribe:	Carcharodini Verity, 1940
Diversity
30 genera

The Carcharodini are a tribe in the skipper butterfly subfamily Pyrginae. They are a very diverse but quite plesiomorphic and inconspicuous group distributed throughout the tropics.^[1]

Formerly, when only four tribes of Pyrginae were recognized, they were included in the Pyrgini, which at that time contained a massive number of genera. But the Pyrginae have since been reorganized to make them and their tribes monophyletic, leading most modern authors to treat the Carcharodini as distinct tribe. However, the old circumscription of the Pyrgini was by and large just as correct from a phylogenetic perspective.^[1]

The tribe of the Pyrgini sensu lato most closely related to the Pyrgini sensu stricto are the strikingly different Achlyodidini. As many consider it desirable to treat this lineage as a distinct tribe, the Carcharodini naturally need to be considered distinct too.^[1]

Genera

The genera are listed here in the presumed phylogenetic sequence:^[1]

Sophista Burca Iliana Jera Mictris Mimia Noctuana Nisoniades Pachyneuria Pellicia Polyctor Evans, 1953 Viola Bolla Gorgopas Staphylus Godman & Salvin, [1896] Hesperopsis Pholisora – sootywings Gomalia – African mallow skipper Muschampia Carcharodus Spialia – African grizzled skippers, sandmen

Arteurotia Conognathus Windia Cyclosemia – eyed skippers Fuscocimex Austin, 2008 Morvina Myrinia Ocella Xispia

Footnotes

1. Brower (2009)

References

• Brower, Andrew V.Z. (2009): Tree of Life Web Project – Carcharodini. Version of 2009-JUN-14. Retrieved 2009-DEC-26.