Sterrhinae is a large subfamily of geometer moths (family Geometridae) with some 3,000 described species, with more than half belonging to the taxonomically difficult, very diverse genera, Idaea and Scopula (Hausmann, 2004; Sihvonen, 2005).

They are the most diverse in the tropics with the number of species decreasing with increasing latitude and elevation (Scoble et al., 1995; Hausmann, 2001, 2004; Brehm & Fiedler, 2003).

Other diagnostic characters include length and longitudinal orientation of the forewing vein connecting the ariole with the origin of M1, and the presence of dark distal spots, which may have pale centres (Holloway, 1997).

Characters that unite Sterrhinae and Larentiinae include the distribution of male secondary sexual organs, found mainly on the male second sternite or in the form of coremata more distally on the abdomen, the spinned or rugose signum of the female corpus bursae (Holloway, 1997), the hammer-head ansa in the tympanal organ, and the absence of a tympanic lacinia in most species (Cook & Scoble, 1992).

Sterrhinae has the presence of olefinic acetates and derivates, unlike other geometrid families, and is sometimes placed as the most basal sister groups of Geometrinae (Young, 2006; Yamamoto & Sota, 2007; Sihvonen et al., 2011).