Our study aims to investigate the relationships of the major lineages within the moth family Geometridae, with a focus on the poorly studied Oenochrominae-Desmobathrinae complex, and to translate some of the results into a coherent subfamilial and tribal level classification for the family. We analyzed a molecular dataset of 1,206 Geometroidea terminal taxa from all biogeographical regions comprising up to 11 molecular markers that includes one mitochondrial (COI) and 10 protein-coding nuclear gene regions (wingless, ArgK, MDH, RpS5, GAPDH, IDH, Ca-ATPase, Nex9, EF-1alpha, CAD). The molecular data set was analyzed using maximum likelihood as implemented in IQ-TREE and RAxML. We found high support for the subfamilies Larentiinae, Geometrinae and Ennominae in their traditional scopes. Sterrhinae becomes monophyletic only ifErgaviaWalker,AmetrisHübner andMacrotesWestwood, which are currently placed in Oenochrominae, are formally transferred to Sterrhinae. Desmobathrinae and Oenochrominae are found to be polyphyletic. The concepts of Oenochrominae and Desmobathrinae required major revision and, after appropriate rearrangements, these groups also form monophyletic subfamily-level entities. Oenochrominaes.str. as originally conceived by Guenée is phylogenetically distant fromEpidesmiaand its close relatives. The latter is hereby described as the subfamily Epidesmiinae Murillo-Ramos, Sihvonen & Brehm,subfam. nov.Epidesmiinae are a lineage of “slender-bodied Oenochrominae” that include the generaEcphyasTurner,SystaticaTurner,AdeixisWarren,DichromodesGuenée,PhrixocomesTurner,AbraxaphantesWarren,EpidesmiaDuncan & Westwood andPhratariaWalker. Archiearinae are monophyletic whenDirceandAcalyphesare formally transferred to Ennominae. We also found that many tribes were para- or polyphyletic and therefore propose tens of taxonomic changes at the tribe and subfamily levels. Archaeobalbinistat. rev.Viidalepp (Geometrinae) is raised from synonymy with Pseudoterpnini Warren to tribal rank. Chlorodontoperini Murillo-Ramos, Sihvonen & Brehm,trib. nov.and Drepanogynini Murillo-Ramos, Sihvonen & Brehm,trib. nov.are described as new tribes in Geometrinae and Ennominae, respectively.

Ein neues, frei zugängliches Online-Portal zu den Geometriden der Welt (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) wird hier vorgestellt. Das Portal bietet Zugang zu einer globalen Datenbank mit Informationen zur Klassifikation, zu sämtlichen validen Gattungs- und Artnamen, Synonymen und Typuslokalitäten. Die Bedeutung dieser öffentlich zugänglichen Datensammlung liegt darin, unsere Kenntnisse über den globalen und regionalen Artenreichtum der Familie Geometridae zu verbessern. Außerdem wurden die Namen der höherrangigen Taxa (Familie, Unterfamilie, Tribus) überarbeitet, ihr Status geklärt und aufgelistet, um den Benutzern ein besseres Verständnis der Phylo-genie nach dem augenblicklichen Stand der Forschung zu vermitteln. Derzeit umfasst die Familie der Geometriden 23.872 beschriebene und valide Arten und 3.134 validierte Unterarten, während weitere 7.891 Namen als Synonyme betrachtet werden (23 % der verfügbaren Namen). Die weltweite Fauna ist in 2.019 Gattungen, 92 Triben und 9 Unterfamilien unterteilt. Unsere Arbeit enthält zudem eine kommentierte Liste aller 202 Unterfamilien-, Tribusund Subtribusnamen in systematischer Reihenfolge. 100 dieser Namen (49,5 %) werden als Synonyme betrachtet. Während die meisten Geometriden-Arten im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert beschrieben wurden, liegt die durchschnitt-liche Zahl der neuen Artbeschreibungen von 2000 bis 2022 ziemlich konstant bei etwa 80 pro Jahr, was bedeutet, dass eine bedeutende Zahl von Geometriden noch darauf wartet, entdeckt zu werden.

Understanding how and why some groups have become more species-rich than others, and how past biogeography may have shaped their current distribution, are questions that evolutionary biologists have long attempted to answer. We investigated diversification patterns and historical biogeography of a hyperdiverse lineage of Lepidoptera, the geometrid moths, by studying its most species-rich tribe Boarmiini, which comprises ca. 200 genera and ca. known 3000 species. We inferred the evolutionary relationships of Boarmiini based on a dataset of 346 taxa, with up to eight genetic markers under a maximum likelihood approach. The monophyly of Boarmiini is strongly supported. However, the phylogenetic position of many taxa does not agree with current taxonomy, although the monophyly of most major genera within the tribe is supported after minor adjustments. Three genera are synonymized, one new combination is proposed, and four species are placed in incertae sedis within Boarmiini. Our results support the idea of a rapid initial diversification of Boarmiini, which also implies that no major taxonomic subdivisions of the group can currently be proposed. A time-calibrated tree and biogeographical analyses suggest that boarmiines appeared in Laurasia ca. 52 Mya, followed by dispersal events throughout the Australasian, African and Neotropical regions. Most of the transcontinental dispersal events occurred in the Eocene, a period of intense geological activity and rapid climate change. Diversification analyses showed a relatively constant diversification rate for all Boarmiini, except in one clade containing the species-rich genus Cleora. The present work represents a substantial contribution towards understanding the evolutionary origin of Boarmiini moths. Our results, inevitably biased by taxon sampling, highlight the difficulties with working on species-rich groups that have not received much attention outside of Europe. Specifically, poor knowledge of the natural history of geometrids (particularly in tropical clades) limits our ability to identify key innovations underlying the diversification of boarmiines.

We provide species lists and geographical occurrence records of the beetle family Passalidae for three subregions of the department of Sucre, northern Colombia. The sampling localities are lowland environments with typical tropical dry forest vegetation. We selected 15 sampling sites and examined decomposing trunks. We record seven species, four genera, and two tribes of Passalidae. The most abundant species were Passalus punctiger Lepeletier & Serville, 1825, P. interstitialis Eschscholtz, 1829, and P. interruptus (Linnaeus, 1758). We also provide new records for Passalus punctatostriatus Percheron, 1835, Paxillus leachi MacLeay, 1819, and Popilius marginatus (Percheron, 1835) in the department of Sucre. Veturius aspina Kuwert, 1898 was present only in the localities with well-preserved forests. Finally, the species number recorded in this study is low compared to other inventories in Neotropical regions.

Our study revises Epidesmiinae, the first new Geometridae subfamily that has been described in 127 years. We studied the morphological characters of representatives from all genera currently classified into Epidesmiinae, and compared those with all other geometrid subfamilies. Epidesmiinae were found to have an Australasian distribution, with one species occurring in the Indo-Malayan realm. They compose a lineage diagnosable by a combination of the following morphological characters: male antennae unipectinate; labial palps elongated (particularly the second segment), vom Raths’s organ with an elliptical invagination; forewing with two areoles; hindwing with one anal vein; gnathos arms fused, granulate or dentate apically; female genitalia with two signa, one stellate, another an elongated and spinose plate. We also present a summary of diagnostic characters of all geometrid subfamilies, which confirm the lack of single unique morphological characters. The limited information on the biology and ecology of Epidesmiinae species are summarized, indicating that some species fly during the day, most adult records are from the Southern Hemisphere summer months and larvae are found on Myrtaceae. We transfer Arcina Walker, 1863 from Oenochrominae s.l. to Epidesmiinae. Epidesmiinae includes 102 species that are now classified into nine genera: Abraxaphantes, Adeixis, Arcina, Dichromodes, Ecphyas, Epidesmia, Phrataria, Phrixocomes and Systatica.