14 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 244 



demonstrating obvious relationships, sometimes may diverge extraor- 

 dinarily in respect to other characters that in other families of Lepi- 

 doptera would be considered of generic or even suprageneric impor- 

 tance. This prominent divergence of several important characters 

 throughout the Psychidae adds greatly to the difficulty of precisely 

 defining the family. This divergence also emphasizes the present 

 widely accepted principle of systematics that the evaluation of any 

 character must be appraised for the particular group under considera- 

 tion. Frequently this principle is applied to the family level, and often 

 it may be extended to higher categories. Within the Psychidae, 

 however, as observed in this study, the proper appraisal of supposed 

 generic characters sometimes has to be decided for a given group of 

 species. Certain characters may be relied upon to define several 

 genera, but these same characters may vary within other comparable 

 units, where they may be of no more than specific unportance. 



Criteria for generic limits were acquired in this study from the 

 examination of such groups as Oiketicus and Cryptothelea. The in- 

 formation gained thereby was then employed in the recognition of 

 supposed equivalent groups. It is obvious that more characters need 

 to be investigated and correlated. In the African Monda group, 

 Clench has discovered very significant generic characters in the 

 thoracic anatomy as well as in the more traditional morphological 

 areas of the body. Similar differences also may be present among 

 some of the New World genera of Psychidae. 



In the following paragraphs several characters are discussed under 

 their various stages in an effort to smnmarize their apphcability to the 

 systematics of this family. 



Male. — Systematic research in this family has been and still is 

 predominantly dependent upon the adult male. The paucity of 

 sufficient characters in the other stages and the extreme specialization 

 in a majority of the females probably will always make this so. 



Antennae: Several characters of value have been noted on this 

 organ: the presence of lateral pectinations as they may occur along the 

 entire length of the shaft; the relative length of the pectinations when 

 present; the relative length and arrangement of the sensory hairs. 

 One of the few characters that appears invariably to be of generic 

 importance in the Psychidae is the origin of the pectinations from the 

 segments of the shaft. The rami may originate basad (Fumaria), 

 mesad (in most genera), or distally (as is the tendency for Hyaloscotes) . 

 In most species the rami usually arise more basad from those segments 

 near the base of the antenna and gradually become more distad in the 

 outer segments. Thus, as a standard in comparing this condition, 

 observations near the middle of the antennae have been made in this 

 study. 



