Tribe Petalocephalini

This tribe has dubious merit. Metcalf (1962) gave no definition of the tribe but simply listed several genera under it. An examination of the Australian species included in the tribe by Metcalf reveals no consistent characters that would enable them to be defined separately from the Ledrini. The classification used by Metcalf recognised the subfamily Ledrinae as a family in its own right, the Ledridae. His classification was:

From this, it follows that, by recognising Metcalf's Ledridae as a subfamily, Metcalf's three component "subfamilies" are therefore reduced to tribes with the component "tribes" as subtribes. This would place the Petalocephalini as a subgroup within the Ledrini, a position that is followed here.

Such consideration would also therefore suggest that the Koebeliini and Thymbrini are components of a single tribe. However, the two groups are recognised as valid tribes by several subsequent authors and the Thymbrini are therefore recognised as a tribe here. They differ from the Koebeliini in having three instead of two apical macrosetae on the hind femur and in the dorsal or marginal placement of the ocelli whereas, in the Koebeliini, they are clearly on the face and remote from the apex of the head.