A REVISION OF THE FAMILY CERACIDAE (LEPIDOPTERA, TORTRICOIDEA) By A. DIAKONOFF SYNOPSIS The author proposes to re-establish Meyrick's family Ceracidae as an independent member of the superfamily Tortricoidea. From a study of a considerable amount of material the group is revised and a new genus, eight new species, and ten new subspecies are described. SEVERAL authors who dealt with the conspicuously coloured large moths of the genus Cerace and its allies were puzzled by their appearance and characters and could reach no agreement upon the true position of these insects within the Microlepidoptera. Consequently Walker and Moore, who were the first to recognize the true Tortricoid relationship of Cerace, put this genus in the family Tortricidae ; Snellen thought it to be a Tineid ; Meyrick regarded Cerace originally as belonging to Plutellidae, founded the family Ceracidae afterwards, but later on suppressed it again and placed Cerace, together with Pentacitrotus (which he regarded only as a synonym), in the Tortricidae. The latter genus was described by Butler as belonging to Lithosiidae ; Warren was of the same opinion. Later on Filipjev described the genus Eurydoxa as a Tortricid, of which Matsumura's Ceraceopsis is a new synonym. Originally the author shared Meyrick's opinion and regarded Cerace and Pentaci-trotus as belonging to the family Tortricidae but separated them in a subfamily, for which he proposed the name of Ceracidii. Further study convinced him, however, that this situation could not be maintained. In the present paper he proposes to re-establish Meyrick's family Ceracidae, which represents a very distinct, natural group of insects, being a quite independent member of the superfamily Tortricoidea. A considerable amount of material, which has been put at the author's disposal by the authorities of the British Museum (Natural History), supplemented by some specimens from the Leiden Museum and the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, from the collection of Mr. T. Bainbrigge Fletcher, and from the author's own collection, enabled him to revise the present group. A new genus, eight new species, and ten new subspecies are described. One species is re-established and one abandoned. Three species, viz. Cerace loxodes Meyrick and C. mesoclasta Meyrick, of which the types possibly are in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, and Eurydoxa advena Filipjev, of which the type is in the Museum of the Leningrad Academy of Sciences, could not be studied at present. The author is greatly obliged to the authorities of the British Museum, and of the Leiden and Paris Museums, for the loan of valuable material, and also to Mr. W. H. T. Tarns, British Museum, for his kind help and information, and also for the photographs of type specimens at that museum and to Mr. T. Bainbrigge Fletcher, Stroud, England, for valuable information on literature and for the loan of the material from his collection.
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