 Most other species' caterpillars are leaf feeders; the extremely polyphagous larvae of "Pyralis manihotalis" have been reared from bat guano.The systematics and taxonomy of this subfamily is somewhat provisional.No quantitative phylogenetic analysis had been done as of 2007, though in the mid-late 1990s Michael Shaffer of the London Natural History Museum and Maria Alma Solis of the NMNH prepared the groundwork for further studies by their comprehensive qualitative reviews of Pyralinae morphology.