REVISION OF PEORIINAE AND ANERASTIINAE 7 



I have accepted the male genitalia as being the most reliable 

 morphological indicators of natural relationships, especially at the 

 generic level. They offer a relatively large number of stable characters. 

 Female genitalia are in many cases too similar to be of much value 

 in separating species, and even genera. Characters of wings, antennae, 

 and palpi previously used to define genera often exhibit more intra- 

 generic than intergeneric variation and consequently are by them- 

 selves extremely unreliable indicators of generic lines. 



Numerous examples of wing venation variability could be given, 

 and the following will illustrate the lack of reliabiHty of venational 

 characters: In the genus Peoria the presence or absence in the fore- 

 wing of vein M3 does not correlate with any other morphological 

 feature investigated. This vein was present in about one-half of the 

 specimens of P. santaritella, and one specimen possessed M3 only on 

 the right wing. Aberrations in the wing venation are very common 

 within the subfamily, and the usefulness of any particular venational 

 feature must be evaluated separately. 



Orientation of the palpi may vary with the sex, and in living 

 specimens the position they assume may be different from that 

 found in dead specimens after desiccation. Unfortunately, most species 

 have been described from very small series of specimens, so the 

 variation has not always been apparent. Thus the use of this character 

 in assigning species to genera has proved to be extremely unreliable. 



The definition of the Anerastiinae has not generally been regarded 

 as very satisfactory. Although most of the species have a distinctive 

 habitus, this and the reduced tongue are not, in the absence of other 

 substantial correlated characters, sufficient to define the group. 

 Heinrich (1956), following Ragonot's division of the Phycitidae, felt 

 that ". . . in the main the subfamilies [Phycitinae and Anerastiinae] 

 themselves appear to be natural entities, although their definition 

 leaves much to be desired." 



On the basis of the genitalia, the North American Anerastiinae 

 divide into two distinctly separate groups. One of these groups is 

 composed of eight phycitine genera, including Anerastia, which seem 

 to be related to diverse areas of that subfamily, and the remaining 

 seven genera comprise a natural group, the Peoriinae. 



The genitalia of both sexes in the peoriines differ distinctly from 

 those in the phycitines. Females all have the ovipositor greatly com- 

 pressed, probably as an adaptation for a particular mode of oviposi- 

 tion. In the males the uncus is so different from its usual appearance 

 in the phycitines as to be nearly unrecognizable in the North American 

 species. Indeed, the assumption that these terminal parts represent 

 uncus is based on an examination of several Old World peoriine 



