This group has been variously treated. Accepted as a more or less valid subgenus by Mangabeira (1942), most other workers including Root (1934), Costa Lima (1932), Barretto (1947) and Floch and Abonnenc (1944) have admitted that the species form a group, but have refrained from using a name for it. Mangabeira and Galindo (1944) in their recharacterization of the group rely mostly on male characters, but as will be shown below, female characters appear to be more reliable for group separation. Psychodopygus, although striking enough in the male sex, has females very similar to typical Shannonomyina.