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The Erebidae are a family of in the superfamily Noctuoidea. The family is among the largest families of moths by species count and contains a wide variety of well-known macromoth groups. The family includes the underwings ( Catocala); litter moths (Herminiinae); tiger, lichen, footman and wasp moths (Arctiinae); tussock moths (Lymantriinae), including the arctic woolly bear moth ( Gynaephora groenlandica); fruit-piercing moths (Calpinae and others); micronoctuoid moths (Micronoctuini); snout moths (Hypeninae); and zales, though many of these common names can also refer to moths outside the Erebidae (for example, Crambidae). Some of the erebid moths are called owlets.
The sizes of the adults range from among the largest of all moths (around wingspan in the white witch) to the smallest of the ( wingspan in some of the Micronoctuini). The coloration of the adults spans the full range of dull, drab, and camouflaged (e.g., Zale lunifera and ) to vivid, contrasting, and colorful (e.g., Aganainae and tiger moths). The moths are found on all continents except Antarctica.
Larvae are usually smooth in appearance, but larvae of Arctiinae (woolly bears) and Lymantriinae are hairy. Larvae of Arctiinae and Lymantriinae have fully developed prolegs, Aganainae and Herminiinae have fully developed or slightly reduced Proleg, and prolegs in some other subfamilies are reduced or absent as an adaptation to arboreal living (semi-loopers).
Larvae are mostly Herbivore, like most lepidopteran larvae, and different taxa prefer different plants. Lithosiini (Arctiinae) larvae are unusual in feeding on algae and lichens (hence "lichen moths"). Most Herminiinae larvae feed on dead or withered leaves (hence "litter moths"), rather than living leaves.
Phylogenetic studies in the present century have helped to clarify the relationships between the structurally diverse lineages within the Noctuoidea and within the Erebidae. Morphological studies had led to a classification in which the monophyletic Arctiinae, Lymantriinae, and Micronoctuini were treated as families, and the other erebid lineages were largely grouped within the Noctuidae. Recent studies combining genetic characteristics with the morphological ones revealed that the former Noctuidae were paraphyletic, and some of the lineages within the Noctuidae were more closely related to the Arctiinae and Lymantriinae subfamilies and the Micronoctuini tribe than to the other lineages within the Noctuidae.
The determination of these phylogenetic relationships has led to the present classification scheme in which several clades were rearranged while kept mostly intact and others were split apart. The Erebidae are one monophyletic family among six in the Noctuoidea. A more strictly defined family Noctuidae is also monophyletic, but the family lacks the quadrifine moths now placed as part of the Erebidae. Some subfamilies of the Noctuidae, such as the Herminiinae, were moved as a whole to Erebidae. Other subfamilies, including the Acontiinae and Calpinae, were each split apart. The Arctiinae became an erebid subfamily placed next to the closely related Herminiinae. The Lymantriinae became another erebid subfamily placed near the Pangraptinae. The rank of the Micronoctuini was changed from family to tribe to include the clade as a lineage within the Hypenodinae. The Erebidae are currently divided into 18 subfamilies, some of which are strongly supported by phylogenetic analysis and may persist through further study, while others are weakly supported and may be redefined again.
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