Morphological and phylogenetic data support a new bagworm moth subfamily, Tenuipsychinae (Lepidoptera: Psychidae)

A new subfamily of bagworm moths is described: Tenuipsychinae subfam. nov., to accompany the new genus Tenuipsyche gen. nov. and 2 new species, Tenuipsyche davisi sp. nov., and Tenuipsyche nishidai sp. nov., based on unique and unusual morphology, biology, and their phylogenetic position inferred via phylogenomic analysis of 13 mitochondrial protein-coding genes and 3 nuclear markers. The biology is highly distinctive in that the fungal-feeding larvae construct long, narrow bags permanently affixed to a substrate, rendering them sessile, a very unusual condition among the Psychidae. Furthermore, the genera Antillonatus, Acoremata, Guttulapsyche, and Lamyristis are transferred to Tenuipsychinae due to shared adult morphology. Species in the subfamily have winged female forms and appear to occur on most continents across the world within tropical and subtropical areas where many undescribed taxa are known. Phylogenetic analysis confirms that Tenuipsychinae is a monophyletic subfamily which forms a sister clade to the previously described female winged subfamilies Arrhenophaninae and Pseudarbelinae.