Macroheterocera

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Panorpida
Cladus: Amphiesmenoptera
Ordo: Lepidoptera
Subordo: Glossata
Cladus: Coelolepida
Cladus: Myoglossata
Cladus: Neolepidoptera
Infraordo: Heteroneura
Cladus: Eulepidoptera
Cladus: Ditrysia
Cladus: Apoditrysia
Cladus: Obtectomera
Cladus: Macroheterocera
Superfamiliae (5): Bombycoidea – Drepanoidea – Geometroidea – Lasiocampoidea – Noctuoidea
Name

Macroheterocera Chapman, 1893.
References

van Nieukerken, E.J., Kaila, L., Kitching, I.J., Kristensen, N.P., Lees, D.C., Minet, J., Mitter, C., Mutanen, M., Regier, J.C., Simonsen, T.J., Wahlberg, N., Yen, S-H., Zahiri, R., Adamski, D., Baixeras, J., Bartsch, D., Bengtsson, B.A., Brown, J.W., Bucheli, S.R., Davis, D.R., de Prins, J., de Prins, W., Epstein, M.C., Gentili-Poole, P., Gielis, C., Hättenschwiler, P., Hausmann, A., Holloway, J.D., Kallies, A., Karsholt, O., Kawahara, A.Y., Koster, S., Kozlov, M.V., Lafontaine, J.D., Lamas, G., Landry, J-F., Lee, S., Nuss, M., Park, K-T., Penz, C.M., Rota, J., Schintlmeister, A., Schmidt, B.C., Sohn, J-C., Solis, M.A., Tarmann, G.M., Warren, A.D., Weller, S., Yaklovlev, R.V., Zolotuhin, V.V. & Zwick, A. 2011. Order Lepidoptera Linnaeus, 1758. Pp 212–221 In: Zhang, Z.-Q. (ed.) 2011. Animal biodiversity: an outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness. Zootaxa 3148: 1–237. Open access. Reference page. PDF. Reference page.

The Macroheterocera are a well supported clade of moths that are closely related to butterflies and other macro-moths.[1][2]
Taxonomy

The Macroheterocera includes the following superfamilies:[1][2]

Mimallonoidea – sack bearers (variously included in basal position[2] or excluded[1])
Drepanoidea – drepanids
Noctuoidea – owlet moths
Geometroidea – inchworms
Lasiocampoidea – lappet moths
Bombycoidea – bombycoid moths

The macroheteroceran superfamilies were previously place in the Macrolepidoptera, but recent molecular studies have failed to recover the Macrolepidoptera as a monophyletic group.[1][2] The latter grouping also included true butterflies (Papilionoidea), New World butterfly-moths (Hedylidae), and Old World butterfly-moths (Calliduloidea).
References

van Nieukerken, Erik J.; Lauri Kaila; Ian J. Kitching; Niels P. Kristensen; David C. Lees; Joël Minet; Charles Mitter; Marko Mutanen; Jerome C. Regier; Thomas J. Simonsen; Niklas Wahlberg; Shen-Horn Yen; Reza Zahiri; David Adamski; Joaquin Baixeras; Daniel Bartsch; Bengt Å. Bengtsson; John W. Brown; Sibyl Rae Bucheli; Donald R. Davis; Jurate De Prins; Willy De Prins; Marc E. Epstein; Patricia Gentili-Poole; Cees Gielis; Peter Hättenschwiler; Axel Hausmann; Jeremy D. Holloway; Axel Kallies; Ole Karsholt; Akito Y. Kawahara; Sjaak (J.C.) Koster; Mikhail V. Kozlov; J. Donald Lafontaine; Gerardo Lamas; Jean-François Landry; Sangmi Lee; Matthias Nuss; Kyu-Tek Park; Carla Penz; Jadranka Rota; Alexander Schintlmeister; B. Christian Schmidt; Jae-Cheon Sohn; M. Alma Solis; Gerhard M. Tarmann; Andrew D. Warren; Susan Weller; Roman V. Yakovlev; Vadim V. Zolotuhin; Andreas Zwick (23 December 2011). Zhang, Zhi-Qiang (ed.). "Order Lepidoptera Linnaeus, 1758" (PDF). Zootaxa. Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness. 3148: 212–221.
Mitter, Charles; Davis, Donald R.; Cummings, Michael P. (2017). "Phylogeny and Evolution of Lepidoptera". Annual Review of Entomology. 62 (1): 265–283. doi:10.1146/annurev-ento-031616-035125. ISSN 0066-4170.