The MONA Checklist (Hodges, et al., 1983) was compiled with an effective cut-off date for names published to the end of 1978. During the last thirty years a generation of scholarship has greatly advanced our knowledge about moth species and has resulted in enormous changes to the Checklist. Through the diligent efforts of several persons who have monitored the literature, and their donation of lists for use at MPG, we now have highly accurate and virtually up-to-date lists for the great majority of moth families. Greg Pohl of the Canadian Forest Service supplied a list for the micromoths. The portion for Tortricidae is largely from the World Catalog by John Brown and co-authors (2005) supplemented by more recent publications. Michael Sabourin contributed to the portion of Tortricidae represented by Cochylini. In 1983, most of the species in Cochylini (then considered to be Cochylidae) were not assigned to genera. Today, for the most part, they are placed in a variety of genera which, if the old numbering system is retained, would result in a list of confusing appearance. I have renumbered completely this one tribe. A crosswalk chart will be provided soon showing the old numbers and those now in use here.

The list for Sphingidae follows that published by James P. Tuttle in his recent monograph on that family (see Books Page). Debbie Matthews-Lott supplied the list for Pterophoridae, following primarily the work of Gielis in the World Catalogue (2003) and more recent publications. I have modernized somewhat the lists for Drepanoidea through Saturniidae with heavy dependence upon lists at All-Leps Barcoding Project that were compiled in 2002. There is much work to be done to bring these lists current. A portion of the Geometridae has been brought forward by the checklist contained in Doug Ferguson's posthumous MONA Fascicle 17.2 (2008).

Lists covering the Noctuoidea were supplied by Don Lafontaine of Agriculture Canada and the Canadian National Collection. These should be updated soon to cover changes and additions published in 2008. Greg Pohl of Natural Resources Canada's Northern Forestry Centre supplied an updated checklist for the micromoths.

A very large file listing many of the thousands of taxonomic changes since 1983 is provided here:

It is to be hoped that serious efforts will be made to update the MPG checklists at least annually so as to closely reflect changes and additions that have been recently published. ~ Bob Patterson, 09/15/2008