NORTH AMERICAN ACROLOPHIDAE — HASBROUCK 495 



concluded that their genitaHa most closely resembled those of two 

 genera m the Tineiduc, Scardia and Amydiia (now Myrmecozela). 

 His examination also supported the earlier combination of all the 

 various genera under the original genus Acrolophus. As in the case 

 of Forbes' work, Eyer's diagnosis of acrolophid genitalia now needs 

 some revision. In 1926, Eyer published on characters of family and 

 superfamily significance in the male genitalia of Microlepidoptera, 

 and he again gave the group in question family rankmg. However, 

 his genital diagnosis of the Acrolophidae, based largely upon the 

 results of his study of 1924, also included two tineid groups, Amydri- 

 inae and Scardiinae. 



Comstock, in his general textbook, "An Introduction to Entomol- 

 ogy" (1924, and subsequent editions pubhshed after his death), 

 followed the general trend in considering the group a family. His 

 diagnosis of the Acrolophidae partially followed that of Forbes, with 

 some change and reduction of information. McDunnough (1939), in 

 his check list of North American Microlepidoptera, listed 46 species, 1 

 form, and 6 synonyms of Acrolophidae, all under the genus Acrolo'phus. 

 He placed this family between the Psychidae and Tineidae in the 

 superfamily Tineoidea. Costa Lima (1945), in his volume on Bra- 

 zilian Lepidoptera, considered the group a family, but he erroneously 

 attributed the original usage of Acrolophidae as a family name to 

 "Dyar (1901)." Hinton (1950, personal correspondence through 

 Dr. J. F. Gates Clarke), who was formerly at the British Museum 

 (Natural History) and who has done considerable work on Micro- 

 lepidoptera, regards the acrolophids as no more than a subfamily of 

 the Tineidae. 



It is apparent from the foregoing historical review that there is at 

 present some disagreement among lepidopterists as to whether this 

 group should receive family, subfamily, or simply generic ranking. 

 In the more than one hundred years since Poey erected the genus 

 Acrolophus, the numerous workers publishing on the group have given 

 it various rankings, but they have usually failed to include any struc- 

 tural characters to justify those rankings. The taxonomy of adult 

 acrolophids is far from perfect and even less is known about the imma- 

 ture stages and the biology of the group in general. Also, the informa- 

 tion on most of the related groups is imperfect in varying degrees. At 

 the present time, the subfamily category has been entirely dispensed 

 with in the North American Tineoidea, and it is very doubtful that a 

 future majority of workers would ever return the acrolophids to the 

 generic level. However, no attempt is made here to justify the family 

 ranking, Acrolophidae, except to say that as such it more conveniently 

 fits into the present and widely accepted classification of North Ameri- 

 can Tineoidea as set forth by McDunnough (1939). 



