Phycita
Phycita is a genus of small moths belonging to the snout moth family. They are the type genus of their tribe Phycitini and of the huge snout moth subfamily Phycitinae.
The type species of this widespread genus is Phycita roborella, under its obsolete name Tinea spissicella. This is believed by many authors to have been described in Johan Christian Fabricius' Entomologia systematica in the 1790s. However, it appears that Fabricius described the species in his 1776/1777 Genera insectorum already. Fabricius himself established the present genus under the name Phycis.
But this name had already been used for a genus of northern hakes by Peter Artedi in his catalogue of fishes, edited and published posthumously by Johann Julius Walbaum in 1792. When this name was replaced, Fabricius' earlier description of the type species was overlooked, eventually rendering it a nomen oblitum. In any case, the same moth had been first described as Phalaena ''roborella by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775, and thus their species name has priority over that of Fabricius. Replacement names for Fabricius' Phycis were proposed at almost the same time in 1828 by John Curtis and Ludwig Thienemann, but the latter's proposal Ceratium was also unavailable, having been established for a dinoflagellate genus by Franz von Paula Schrank in 1793. To add further confusion, some authors have claimed that Ceratium was again established for the present genus in 1848 by Johannes von Nepomuk Franz Xaver Gistel, but this is not correct - Gistel merely discussed Thienemann's and v. Schrank's names and proposed Gyra to replace the latter, adding yet another invalid name to the synonymy of Phycita.
Phycita'' species can be hard to tell apart from related moths in the field. The combination of 11 veins in the forewing and an upward-pointing "snout" formed by the long and straight labial palps, whose second segment is much longer than the third, may be diagnostic. The caterpillar's food plants are not comprehensively documented, but seem to include trees of the eurosids I clade and perhaps others.
Selected species
These 72 species belong to the genus Phycita:Phycita acericola Kuznetzov, 1960Phycita aceris Schernijazova, 1974Phycita adiacritis Turner, 1904Phycita amygdali Schernijazova, 1974Phycita ardekanella Amsel, 1950Phycita ardentia Hampson, 1903Phycita asseclella Ragonot, 1893Phycita asselbergsi Slamka, 2019Phycita attenuata Balinsky, 1994Phycita balutchistanella Amsel, 1950Phycita basistrigata Amsel, 1935Phycita caiella Joannis, 1913Phycita cavifrons Meyrick, 1932Phycita characterica Asselbergs, 2009Phycita clientella Phycita clientulella Ragonot, 1893Phycita coronatella Phycita definalis Hampson, 1908Phycita demidovi Guillermet, 2007Phycita deodaralis Hampson, 1908Phycita diaphana Phycita dinawa Kenrick, 1907Phycita endomelaena Hampson, 1908Phycita eremica Amsel, 1935Phycita erythrolophia Hampson, 1903Phycita exaggerata Balinsky, 1994Phycita hemipexella Hampson, 1903Phycita hemixanthella Hampson, 1896Phycita hyrcanella Amsel, 1961Phycita hyssarica Schernijazova, 1974Phycita inanitella Phycita judaica Amsel, 1935Phycita kurdistanella Amsel, 1954Phycita lugubris Balinsky, 1994Phycita luxorella Caradja, 1916Phycita melanosticta Hampson, 1912Phycita meliella Phycita mianella Amsel, 1950Phycita michaeli Roesler & Küppers, 1979Phycita nagaradja Roesler & Küppers, 1979Phycita nephodeella Ragonot, 1887Phycita ochralis Hampson, 1903Phycita orthoclina Meyrick, 1929Phycita pachylepidella Hampson, 1896Phycita pectenella Hampson, 1896Phycita pectinicornella Fryer, 1912Phycita pedisignella Ragonot, 1887Phycita peliella Yamanaka, 2016Phycita persarum Phycita phaeella Hampson, 1903Phycita phoenicocraspis Hampson, 1896Phycita phryne G. Leraut, 2019Phycita pirizanella Amsel, 1954Phycita poteriella Phycita randensis Balinsky, 1994Phycita rectella Phycita roborella Phycita salitella Zerny, 1935Phycita spiculata Balinsky, 1994Phycita spissoterminata Balinsky, 1994Phycita steniella Hampson, 1903Phycita strigata Phycita subdeletella Phycita subsalitella G. Leraut, 2019Phycita suppenditata Balinsky, 1994Phycita taftanella Amsel, 1950Phycita teheranella Amsel, 1954Phycita torrenti Agenjo, 1962Phycita trachystola Turner, 1904Phycita vayu Roesler & Küppers, 1979Phycita venalbellus Phycita zizyphella Chrétien, 1915