Drepanoidea is one of the largest superfamilies in Lepidoptera, once referred to five families: Drepanidae, Cyclidiidae, Thyatiridae, Epicopeiidae and Callidulidae. The members of the Drepanoidea were once placed in the Geometroidea in the early years because most of them have abdominal tympanal organs. Different authors have had different viewpoints about the content of the drepanoids. The systematic relationship of the Drepanoidea on family level is very confusing and has undergone complicated changes. The superfamily Drepanoidea is currently composed of two families based on morphological studies, the Epicopeiidae and the Drepanidae. The family Drepanidae is divided into three subfamilies: the Drepaninae, Thyatirinae and Cyclidiinae. The family Epicopeiidae is not divided into subfamilies owing to the relative homogeneity of the limited number of genera. But whether the Epicopeiidae belong to Drepanoidea and the monophyly of the Drepanidae still remains controversial. There is not yet a well accepted conclusion on the phylogenetic relationship between families and subfamilies involved in the superfamily.

A molecular phylogenetic study of the Drepanoidea based on the EF-1a sequences and combined EF-1a and COI sequences was carried out, in order to infer higher classification at and above the subfamily level. The results revealed that the Drepaninae, Thyatirinae and Cyclidiinae respectively form monophyletic groups. The sister relationship between the Drepaninae and the Thyatirinae was validated. The monophyly of the Cyclidiinae with the Drepaninae + Thyatirinae was supported robustly. Hypsomadius and Oreta within the traditional definition of the Drepaninae formed an individual clade with robust support (100%) and constitutes a sister relationship to a clade containing the rest of the Drepaninae in all the topologies, which means that the subfamily Oretinae of the Drepanidae should be restored. The family Drepanidae is divided into four subfamilies: Drepaninae, Oretinae, Thyatirinae and Cyclidiinae in this work. The family Epicopeiidae formed a monophyly with high bootstrap values. The result of combined analysis of EF-1a and COI showed that the Epicopeiidae have a closer phylogenetic relationship with the Geometridae than with the Drepanidae and belong to neither the Drepanoidea nor the Geometroidea.

The results of this work were published in Bulletin of entomological Research. This project was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (no. 30670238) and Chinese Academy of Sciences Innovation Program (no. KSCX3-IOZ-0810).

 Wu CG, Han HX, Xue DY*. 2010. A pilot study on the molecular phylogeny of Drepanoidea (Insecta: Lepidoptera) inferred from the nuclear gene EF-1α and the mitochondrial gene COI. Bulletin of Entomological Research 100: 207–216.