The neotropical genus Catharylla Zeller, 1863 (type species: Crambus tenellus Zeller, 1839) is redescribed. Catharylla paulella Schaus, 1922 and C. tenellus (Zeller, 1839) are redescribed, and six new species are described: C. bijuga, C. chelicerata, C. coronata, C. gigantea, C. mayrabonillae and C. serrabonita. The phylogenetic relationships were investigated using morphological as well as molecular data (mitochondrial COI and the nuclear wingless and EF-1α genes). The monophyly of Catharylla was recovered in the phylogenetic analyses of the molecular and the combined dataset. Phylogenetic analyses of the morphology of the two sexes recovered three separate species groups within Catharylla: the chelicerata, the mayrabonillae, and the tenellus species groups. The possible position of genus Micrelephas Schaus, 1922 as sister to Catharylla, based on both morphological and molecular data, is discussed. Investigations of the COI Barcode sequence revealed a strong genetic gap between two populations of C. serrabonita.