The Generic Positions of Some North American Species Commonly Referred to Pyrausta Schrank (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

It has for some time been realized that the genus Pyrausta as it stands in current North American lists is a very unnatural one. Forbes (1926) pointed out that a fundamental division of the Pyraustinae possible on the basis of the presence or absence in the male fore wing of the frenulum hook, and that species of both types have ordinarily been included in Pyrausta. Subsequent studies of genitalic structure—particularly that by Pierce and Metcalfe (1938)—have borne out the importance of this division.