Previous phylogenetic results often showed fluctuating positions of Geometroidea in Macroheterocera, particularly from mitochondrial genome (mitogenome)-based analyses. In this study, we sequenced mitogenomes of four geometrid moths to increase taxon diversity for the inference of phylogenetic positions of Geometroidea in Macroheterocera. The general genomic features found in Macroheterocera also were found in the four geometrid moths. Phylogenetic analyses using 71 representative mitogeneome sequences in Macroheterocera yielded the consensus superfamilial relationships (((((Bombycoidea + Lasiocampoidea) + Geometroidea) + Noctuoidea) + Drepanoidea) + Mimallonoidea), confirming the sister relationship of Geometroidea to (Bombycoidea + Lasiocampoidea) in both Bayesian Inference and Maximum-likelihood method.

Currently, phylogenetic relationships of Macroheterocera with the inclusion of Bombycoidea have been reconstructed using molecular data, but generated several hypotheses on familial relationships within Bombycoidea and among-superfamilial relationships within Macroheterocera. Thus, in this study, mitogenome-based superfamilial relationships of Macroheterocera and familial relationships among macroheteroceran superfamily, Bombycoidea, were tested with different algorithms and partition schemes. Additionally, two unrecorded species of Bombycoidea (Saturnia jonasii and Kentrochrysalis streckeri) detected in Korea using morphological and molecular data are presented.