Phassodes

Phassodes is a moth genus of the family Hepialidae. As of 2018^[update], it is monospecific, consisting of the sole species Phassodes vitiensis; this species is very variable. It is found in Fiji and Samoa.^[4] The life cycle is unknown but the larva is presumed to feed underground on the roots of plants or decaying matter.^[5]

Phassodes
Six specimens from Viti Levu, Fiji
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Hepialidae
Genus:	Phassodes Bethune-Baker, 1905[1]
Type species
Phassodes odorevalvula Bethune-Baker, 1905[1]
Species
P. vitiensis (Rothschild, 1895)
Synonyms[2]
Species: Leto vitiensis Rothschild, 1895[3] Phassodes bimorpha Bethune-Baker, 1905[1] Phassodes guthrei Bethune-Baker, 1905[1] Phassodes nausori Bethune-Baker, 1905[1] Phassodes odorevalvula Bethune-Baker, 1905[1] Phassodes rewaensis Bethune-Baker, 1905[1] Phassodes vitensis Bethune-Baker, 1905[1]

Taxonomic history

The British entomologist George Thomas Bethune-Baker first circumscribed the genus Phassodes in 1905. He included six species, all of which he described in the same work.^[1] In 1950, the French entomologist Pierre Viette synonymized Bethune-Baker's P. nausori with P. vitiensis;^[6] P. vitiensis was first described by Walter Rothschild in 1895.^[3]