Galleriinae Zeller 1848
Creators: name: Singh, Navneet
name: Ranjan, Rahul
name: Talukdar, Avishek
name: Joshi, Rahul
name: Kirti, Jagbir Singh
name: Chandra, Kailash
name: Mally, Richard
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Pyralidae

description: 1.2. Galleriinae   Diversity and distribution: Worldwide, 260 valid species in 63 genera (Nuss et al. 2003 – 2022, Léger et al. 2020). In India, 31 species in 15 genera are reported, accounting for 11.92% of the global Galleriinae diversity. From the 15 Indian genera, 10 are represented by a single species, and the remaining five genera comprise between two and eight species (Fig. 8). The subfamily are most diverse in the North East, followed by Deccan Peninsula, Central Himalaya, and Gangetic plain, being completely absent from the Trans-Himalaya and East Himalaya (Fig. 9).   
 Adult characters: vary considerably in size, ranging in wingspan from 10 to 90 mm. Their narrow, often unobtrusively brownish forewings take on a conspicuous lens shape in some taxa. Chaetosemata and ocelli are considered absent (latter present in tribe Megarthtridiini) but might have been overlooked in the past due to the difficulty of their study (Solis & Mitter 1992). A curved line between the tympanal organs’ conjunctivum and tympanum as well as weakly developed or absent tympanic areoles might be considered autapomorphies of the subfamily but have not been studied widely among Galleriinae and across the other Pyralidae subfamilies. The venulae secundae are well developed. The wing coupling in males is via a frenulum represented by a single bristle, and in females with three bristles. In the male genitalia, the tegumen extends up to the base of the uncus, unarmed, the gnathos is absent or vestigial at most.   
 Larval characters: most larvae have a sclerotised ring around SD 1 of A1. The pinacula are strongly reduced in most Galleriinae. The larval morphology allows a distinction of two sharply defined subgroups: one group (group A sensu Hasenfuss (1960)) comprising Aphomia Hübner (incl. the synonymous Corcyra Ragonot and Melissoblaptes Zeller), and another group comprising the wax moths Achroia Hübnerand Galleria Fabricius (Hasenfuss’ (1960) group B). Larvae of group A have six stemmata, and meso- and metathorax each have one macroscopic SV chaeta. Group B exhibits a range of derived characters that are absent in group A, such as a proventriculus that is probably an adaptation to the wax-eating habit of these species. Stemmata 1 and 2 as well as 3 and 4 are fused in Galleria, and in Achroia the stemmata are fully reduced apart from remains of stemmata 3 and 4. Meso- and metathorax feature two macroscopic SV chaetae (Hasenfuss 1960, Solis 1999).   
 Food plants: larvae of several species are feeders of dry vegetable matter and can become serious pests of stored plant products, as in the case of the rice moth Aphomia cephalonica (Stainton). Wax moths in the genera Galleria and Achroia have larvae that feed on the combs of hymenopteran nests like those of the honey-bee, and are therefore considered apicultural pests (Holloway et al. 2001). Larvae of Tirathaba Walker species are pests of palms (Arecaceae) like coconut (Munroe & Solis 1999).
description: Published as part of Singh, Navneet, Ranjan, Rahul, Talukdar, Avishek, Joshi, Rahul, Kirti, Jagbir Singh, Chandra, Kailash & Mally, Richard, 2022, A catalogue of Indian Pyraloidea (Lepidoptera), pp. 1-423 in Zootaxa 5197 (1) on pages 21-22, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5197.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7252292