Further progress on the phylogeny of N octuoidea ( I nsecta: L epidoptera) using an expanded gene sample

Major progress has been made recently toward resolving the phylogeny of N octuoidea, the largest superfamily of L epidoptera. However, numerous questions and weakly supported nodes remain. In this paper we independently check and extend the main findings of multiple recent authors by performing maximum‐likelihood analyses of 5–19 genes (6.7–18.6 kb) in 74 noctuoids representing all the families and a majority of the subfamilies. Our results strongly support the six family system of Z ahiri et al ., with the former L ymantriidae and A rctiidae subsumed within the huge family E rebidae, and N octuidae restricted largely to the subfamilies with so‐called trifine hindwing venation. Our data also strongly corroborate monophyly of the set of four families with quadrifid forewing venation, to the exclusion of N otodontidae, and removal from the latter of O enosandridae. Other among‐family relationships, however, remain unsettled. Our evidence is equivocal on the position of O enosandridae, which are sister group to either N otodontidae alone or to all other noctuoids. Like other recent nuclear gene studies, our results also provide no strong support for relationships among the four quadrifid forewing families. In contrast, within families our analyses significantly expand the list of robustly resolved relationships, while introducing no strong conflicts with previous molecular studies. Within N otodontidae, for which we present the largest molecular taxon sample to date, we find strong evidence for polyphyly for some, or all, recent definitions of the subfamilies T haumetopoeinae, P ygaerinae, N otodontinae and H eterocampinae. Deeper divergences are incompletely resolved but there is strong support for multiple ‘backbone’ nodes subtending most of the subfamilies studied. Within E rebidae, we find much agreement and no strong conflict with a recent previous study regarding relationships among subfamilies, and somewhat stronger support. Although many questions remain, the two studies together firmly resolve positions for over half the subfamilies. Within N octuidae, we find no strong conflict with previous molecular studies regarding relationships among subfamilies, but much stronger resolution along the ‘backbone’ of the phylogeny. Combining information from multiple studies yields strongly resolved positions for most of the subfamilies. Finally, our results strongly suggest that the tribes P seudeustrotiini and P rodeniini, currently assigned to the largest subf