Vol. 101, No. 2, March & April 1990 109 TAXONOMIC DISTRIBUTION AND PHYLO-GENETIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MALE FORELEG HAIRPENCIL IN THE TORTRICINAE (LEPIDOPTERA: TORTRICIDAE)' John W. Brown^ ABSTRACT: I report for the first time male foreleg hairpencils in the tortricine tribes Euliini, Schoenotenini, and Atteriini. The structures are identical in Euliini and Schoeno-tenini, and their shared possession is considered a putative synapomorphy for these two tribes. Although similar in structure and point of origin, the hairpencil in Atteriini lies along the anterior longitudinal axis of the femur rather than along the outer base of the coxa as in Euliini and Schoenotenini. The atteriine hairpencil may represent an indepen-dently derived structure, or, more likely, a modification of that found in the other two tribes. Male secondary structures (e.g., costal fold, corema, hairpencil) are common and diverse among exoporian and ditrysian Lepidoptera (Varley 1962; Birch 1972, 1985). Although these structures may be strik-ingly unique and almost certainly homologous among taxa sharing them, their value in elucidating phylogenetic relationships is dimin-ished by the fact that they are evolutionarily more labile than many other adult morphological features. Shared possession of uniquely derived male secondary structures provides compelling evidence of common ancestry (Birth 1972; Varley 1962), but their absence may be meaningless in a phylogenetic context since the correct position in the transformation series (i.e., primitively absent -present -secondarily lost) may be impos-sible to determine. Few characters of the legs of tortricids have been studied on a com-parative basis. Examples include the work of Falkovitch (1962) on male secondary structures in Olethreutinae, and that of Yasuda (1972) on tar-sal setae of Japanese Tortricinae. Horak ( 1984) concluded that legs pro-vide fewcharacters useful in resolving phylogenetic relationships within Tortricinae. However, my recent discovery of male foreleg hairpencils among the tortricid tribes Euliini, Schoenotenini, and Atteriini may be useful in demonstrating the monophyly of these taxa and in elucidating relationships among their members. Hairpencil in Euliini and Schoenotenini Structure. The foreleg hairpencil in Euliini and Schoenotenini con-1 Received May 20, 1989. Accepted July 3, 1989. Department of Entomology, NHB-127, Smithsonian Institution, Washington. D.C., 20560. ENT. NEWS 101(2): 109-1 16. March & April. 1990