actively participate in the maintenance of the ant nest by repairing and reinforcing walls with spinning thread. Small caterpillars live among eggs and small ant larvae on which they feed, as examinations of the gut contents have shown. Larger caterpillars are found among ant larvae and pupae. In cases where the ant colony is moving to a new nest, small caterpillars are carried passively to the new nest, but not actively by the ants, whereas large caterpillars remain in the old nest. The adult moths are diurnal. The flight is neither fast nor lengthy, and with rapid wing movement. After settling down, the moth usually walks a short distance, with its wings held horizontally and skewed backwards. In resting position, the wings are normally held vertically, covering the body from the sides, and the abdomen is raised to approximately 45°. Like the caterpillars and pupae, the adults are not attacked by the ants. Systematics The genus currently comprises eight species: Niphopyralis albida Hampson, 1893 Niphopyralis aurivillii (Kemner, 1923) Niphopyralis chionesis Hampson, 1919 Niphopyralis contaminata Hampson, 1893 Niphopyralis discipunctalis Hampson, 1919 Niphopyralis myrmecophila (Roepke, 1916) Niphopyralis nivalis Hampson, 1893 – type species of Niphopyralis Niphopyralis suffidalis Swinhoe, 1895 The genus Niphopyralis was described by George Hampson in 1893, who placed it in the subfamily Pyraustinae, but later transferred it to Schoenobiinae. Twenty-three years later, in 1916, Walter Karl Johann Roepke described Wurthia and erected the new subfamily Wurthiinae, which he placed in Arctiidae (now Arctiinae). Kemner (1923) transferred Wurthia to Schoenobiinae based on similarities to Niphopyralis. Lewvanich (1981) removed Niphopyralis from Schoenobiinae and transferred it to Pyraustinae, while Wurthia remained in Schoenobiinae. Common (1990), realising that Wurthia is misplaced in Schoenobiinae, re-established the subfamily Wurthiinae with this genus as the sole member. Eventually, in 1996, Wurthia was recognized as synonym of Niphopyralis. Recently, Regier et al. (2012) found Niphopyralis to be an ingroup of Spilomelinae, and they consequently synonymised the name Wurthiinae with Spilomelinae. Since 2019, the name Wurthiini is in use again as tribe of Spilomelinae. References Spilomelinae Taxa named by George Hampson