6 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 280 



Grote (1888) regarded "... the Phycidae or Phyciinae as a 

 sub-family of the Pyrahdae; the M. Ragonot's Anerastinae [sic] as 

 merely a tribal division of the sub-family." 



The first paper summarizing knowledge of the Anerastiinae was 

 Hulst's (1890) "Revision of American Phycitidae." Therein he 

 divided the family into the subfamilies Phycitinae and Peoriinae, the 

 latter group largely corresponding to Ragonot's Anerastiinae, but 

 excluding Anerastia and two other genera. The division was rather 

 auspiciously made on the basis of the male genitalia, but unfortunately 

 his assignment of genera into the two groups suggests that he neglected 

 careful examination of these structures for most species. Indeed, 

 genitalia are discussed for only 4 of the 19 peoriine genera included 

 in the paper. The revision treats 30 species in 19 genera of Peoriinae, 

 with 7 of the species and 4 of the genera being described as new. 



The great world monograph of Ragonot (1901) was completed by 

 Sir George F. Hampson after the author's death in 1895 and contains 

 descriptions of 31 species and illustrations in color of 30 species 

 (lotella Hiibner not being illustrated) of North American Anerastiinae 

 placed in 17 genera. Three species and one genus were described as 

 new. A number of the specific names have since been synonymized, 

 and several of the genera have been found not to be North American. 



Hampson's (1918) classification of the subfamily termed the group 

 Hypsotropinae based on Hypsotropa Zeller. He considered dignella 

 Hiibner to be the type oi Anerastia, but Ragonot (1901) had already 

 designated lotella Hiibner as such. His paper covers the entire group 

 and ascribes one new species to the North American fauna. 



Sixteen new specific names have been added to the literature since 

 the publication of Ragonot's monograph, these mostly in occasional 

 papers by Dyar (1904, 1904a, 1906, 1908, 1923), Barnes and McDun- 

 nough (1913), Hampson (1918, 1930), and Grossbeck (1917). The 

 most recent checklist for North America (McDunnough, 1939) 

 gives 23 genera and 51 species, plus 1 genus and 10 species as junior 

 synonyms. Heinrich's "Revision of the New World Phycitinae" 

 (1956) transfers a number of genera across the subfamily lines. 



Classification 



As has been indicated previously, available information on the 

 Anerastiinae is minimal, so that the present study is only a step 

 toward a more reliable taxonomic system such as exists for many 

 better known groups of insects. Nevertheless, morphological studies 

 of adult specimens indicate that radical changes in the classification 

 of the Anerastiinae are needed. 



