Phylogenetic systematics, diversification, and biogeography of Cerurinae (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae) and a description of a new genus

We present the first dated molecular phylogeny of the Cerurinae moths
(Notodontidae), based on sequence data for 666 loci generated by anchored
hybrid enrichment. Monophyly of Cerurinae is corroborated, which includes
the following genera: Pararethona Janse, Pseudorethona Janse, Oreocerura
Kiriakoff, stat. rev., Cerurella Kiriakoff, Notocerura Kiriakoff,
Hampsonita Kiriakoff, Afrocerura Kiriakoff, Cerurina Kiriakoff, Neoharpyia
Daniel, Furcula Lamarck, Neocerura Matsumura, Americerura St Laurent and
Goldstein, gen. nov., Cerura Schrank, and Kamalia Koçak & Kemal.
The type species of the Neotropical genus Tecmessa Burmeister, T.
annulipes (Berg), which had been incorrectly assigned to Cerurinae, is
recovered in Heterocampinae; and Americerura gen. nov. is proposed to
receive 17 unambiguously cerurine species transferred from Tecmessa.
Divergence time estimates recover a crown age of Notodontidae roughly
coincident with the K-Pg boundary and a late-Oligocene crown age for
Cerurinae. An African origin is inferred for Cerurinae, followed by
colonization of the Palearctic, the Americas, Indomalaya, and Australasia
during the Miocene. At least three independent colonizations of the
Americas are inferred, one in the mid-Miocene associated with ancestral
Americerura gen. nov. and two in the Pliocene and Pleistocene within
Furcula. We hypothesize that the global spread of Cerurinae was enabled by
that of its primary caterpillar foodplants in the Salicaceae.
State-dependent diversification analyses suggest that cerurines
diversified most rapidly in temperate climates.