Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5843 No. 1: 2 Jul. 2026
Type: Monograph
Published: 2026-07-02
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5843.1.1
Page range: 1-115
Abstract views: 64
PDF downloaded: 6

A revision of the bagworm moths of Madagascar with 26 new species and a checklist update (Lepidoptera, Psychidae)

Institut de Systématique; Évolution; Biodiversité (UMR 7205); Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (& CNRS; Sorbonne Université; EPHE-PSL; Université des Antilles); C.P. 50 (Entomologie); 45; rue Buffon; F-75005 Paris; France; SAS AOA Polynesian Forests; Punaauia; Tahiti; Polynésie française
Lepidoptera Madagascar Typhoniinae morphology taxonomy Pacific fauna Degia Plumana Typhonia species groups

Abstract

Many insects of Madagascar are still to be described; it is notably the case of most Psychidae. This study is aimed at describing and reviewing the Typhoniinae species from Madagascar, bagworm moths mostly collected by Pierre Viette and his colleagues in the 1950s and preserved in the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN, Paris). Types of species originally assigned to the genera Melasina Boisduval, 1840 (Viette, 1954–56), Narycia Stephens, 1836 (Meyrick, 1931; 1934), Sapheneutis Meyrick, 1907 and Typhonia Boisduval, 1834 (Sobczyk & Schütt, 2010) are reviewed and classified into a single genus, viz. Plumana Busck, 1911 (split into species-groups). Twenty-one new species of Plumana are described within six species-groups, namely: P. kely sp. nov., P. hafakely sp. nov., P. efatrhafa sp. nov., P. lolonkitana sp. nov., P. androvolana sp. nov., P. moheli sp. nov., P. volondavenona sp. nov., P. hanafina sp. nov., P. hazavana sp. nov., P. tanimanga sp. nov., P. tebokatsarana sp. nov., P. kelypentina sp. nov., P. tany sp. nov., P. tebokany sp. nov., P. volofotsy sp. nov., P. havokavoka sp. nov., P. masokonditra sp. nov., P. roatonony sp. nov., P. sobczyki sp. nov., P. mineti sp. nov., P. rougeriei sp. nov. Three new species of Typhonia Boisduval, 1834 are described within a new species-group, namely T. volombonna sp. nov., T. volontany sp. nov. and T. telosamihafa sp. nov.; two new species of Degia Walker, 1862 are described, namely D. masokely sp. nov. and D. lolantsingy sp. nov.. In addition to several drawings, high-resolution photographs were taken to illustrate the habitus and various morphological structures (e.g. genitalia and abdominal structures) of the 34 typhoniine species now know to occur in Madagascar (mainly MNHN material). An updated list of the Malagasy Psychidae is provided.

References

  1. Arnscheid, W.R. (2024) Placodominae, Typhoniinae partim, Oiketicinae. In: Arnscheid, W.R. & Weidlich, M. (Eds.), Psychidae of the Palaearctic Region. Part 1. Insecta, Lepidoptera. Proceedings of the Museum Witt Munich München. Akademischer Verlag München, Munich, pp. 478.
  2. Becker, V.O. (1984) Taxonomic notes on the Neotropical Microlepidoptera. Revista brasileira de Entomologia, 28 (2), 129–201.
  3. Bourgogne, J. (1984) Insectes Lépidoptères Psychidae Oiketicinae. Faune de Madagascar, 63, 1–57.
  4. Brock, J.P. (1971) A contribution towards an understanding of the morphology and phylogeny of the ditrysian Lepidoptera. Journal of Natural History, 5 (1), 29–102. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222937100770031
  5. Busck, A. (1911) Descriptions of tineoid moths (Microlepidoptera) from South America. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 40 (1815), 205–230. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00963801.40-1815.205
  6. Dugdale, J.S. (1974) Female genital configuration in the classification of Lepidoptera. New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 1 (2), 127–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/03014223.1974.9517821
  7. Ganzhorn, J.U., Porter, P.L., George, E.S. & Sommer, S. (2001) The biodiversity of Madagascar: One of the world’s hottest hotspots on its way out. Oryx, 35 (4), 346–48. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-3008.2001.00201.x
  8. Lacroix, M. (1998) II. Notices sur les récolteurs malgaches Melolonthidae et Hopliidae (Comores - Madagascar - Mascareignes). In: Lacroix, M. (Ed.), Insectes Coléoptères Hopliidae. Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, pp. 657–691.
  9. Lees, D.C. & Minet, J. (2022) Lepidoptera, butterflies and moths: Systematics and diversity. In: Goodman, S.M. (Ed.), The New Natural History of Madagascar. Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford, pp. 1142–1172. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2ks6tbb.152
  10. Lopez-Vaamonde, C., Sire, L., Rasmussen, B., Rougerie, R., Wieser, C., Allaoui, A.A., Minet, J., deWaard, J.R., Decaëns, T. & Lees, D.C. (2019) DNA barcodes reveal deeply neglected diversity and numerous invasions of micromoths in Madagascar. Genome, 62 (3), 108–21. https://doi.org/10.1139/gen-2018-0065
  11. Meyrick, E. (1907) Descriptions of Indian Micro-Lepidoptera. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 18 (1), 155.
  12. Meyrick, E. (1931) s.n. Exotic Microlepidoptera, 4 (2–6), 99.
  13. Meyrick, E. (1934) s.n. Exotic Microlepidoptera, 4 (15–17), 481–82.
  14. Minet, J. (1983) Étude morphologique et phylogénétique des organes tympaniques des Pyraloidea. 1 Généralités et homologies. ( Lep. Glossata ). Annales de la Société entomologique de France, Nouvelle Série, 19 (2), 175–07. https://doi.org/10.1080/21686351.1983.12278357
  15. Minet, J. (1990) Nouvelles frontières, géographiques et taxonomiques, pour la famille des Callidulidae (Lepidoptera, Calliduloidea). Nouvelle Revue d’Entomologie, Nouvelle Série, 6 (4), 351–68.
  16. Minet, J. (1998) 15. The Axioidea and Calliduloidea. In: Kristensen, N.P. (Ed.), Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies, Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, pp. 257–261. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110804744.257
  17. ORSOM (1962) Liste des spécialistes, collaborateurs ou correspondants de l’I.R.S.M. pour l’étude de la faune malgache. Institut de Recherche Scientifique de Madagascar, Tananarive, Antananarivo, 82 pp
  18. Park, K.-T., Koo, J.-M. & Minet, J. (2020) Review of the Malagasy lecithocerid species described by Pierre Viette and deposited in MNHN (Paris), with new generic combinations and descriptions of a new subfamily and genus of Momphidae (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea). Zootaxa, 4845 (2), 151–190. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4845.2.1
  19. Park, K.-T., Koo, J.-M., Minet, J. & Razafindranaivo, V. (2023) Lecithoceridae (Lepidoptera) of Madagascar: I. Descriptions of eighteen new species of Torodora Meyrick, 1894. Zootaxa, 5264 (2), 151–184. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5264.2.1
  20. Paulian, R. & Viette, P. (1955) Essai d’un catalogue biologique des Lépidoptères Hétérocères de Tananarive. Mémoires de l’Institut scientifique de Madagascar, Série E: Entomologie, 6, 141–281.
  21. Schatz, G.E. (1996) Malagasy/Indo-Australo-Malesian Phytogeography Connections. In: Lourenço, W.R. (Eds.), Biogéographie de Madagascar. ORSTOM, Paris, pp. 73–83.
  22. Sobczyk, T. & Schütte, K. (2010) Two new species, taxonomic notes and a checklist of bagworm moths from Madagascar (Lepidoptera, Psychidae). Deutsche entomologische Zeitschrift, 57 (1), 59–68. https://doi.org/10.1002/mmnd.201000005
  23. Sobczyk, T. (2011) World Catalogue of Insects, Volume 10, Lepidoptera (Psychidae). Apollo books, Stenstrup, 467 pp.
  24. Vences, M., Wollenberg, K.C., Vieites, D.R. & Lees, D.C. (2009) Madagascar as a model region of species diversification. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 24 (8), 456–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2009.03.011
  25. Viette, P. (1954) Description de nouveaux Tinéides malgaches. Mémoires de l’Institut scientifique de Madagascar, Series E: Entomology, 5, 2–38.
  26. Viette, P. (1955) Nouveaux Tineoidea (S. L.) de Madagascar. Annales de la Société entomologique de France, 123 (1), 75–114. https://doi.org/10.1080/21686351.1954.12279076
  27. Viette, P. (1956) Nouveaux Microlépidoptères de Madagascar. Bulletin de la Société zoologique de France, LXXXI (2–3), 89–98.
  28. Viette, P. (1990) Liste récapitulative des Lépidoptères Hétérocères de Madagascar (A provisional check-list of the Lepidoptera Heterocera of Madagascar). Faune de Madagascar, Supplement 1, 1–164.
  29. Viette, P. (1991) Principales localités où des Insectes ont été récoltés à Madagascar. Faune de Madagascar, Supplement 2, 1–100.
  30. Wootton, R.J. (1979) Function, homology and terminology in Insect wings. Systematic Entomology, 4 (1), 81–93. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3113.1979.tb00614.x
  31. Yoder, A.D. & Nowak, D.M. (2006) Has vicariance or dispersal been the predominant biogeographic force in Madagascar? Only time will tell. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 37 (1), 405–31. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.37.091305.110239

How to Cite

Rasmussen, B. (2026) A revision of the bagworm moths of Madagascar with 26 new species and a checklist update (Lepidoptera, Psychidae). Zootaxa, 5843 (1), 1–115. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5843.1.1