Acanthopteroctetidae

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Acanthopteroctetidae
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Clade: Coelolepida
Infraorder: Acanthoctesia
Superfamily: Acanthopteroctetoidea
Family: Acanthopteroctetidae
Davis, 1978
Genera and species

AcanthopteroctetesBraun, 1921

Catapterix Zagulajev & Sinev, 1988

Diversity
7 described species in 2 genera + 2 undescribed species

Acanthopteroctetidae is a small family of moths with two described genera, Acanthopteroctetes and Catapterix , a total of seven described species, and two undescribed species. [1] [2] They are known as the archaic sun moths.

Contents

The Acanthopteroctetidae have been classified as the sole family in the superfamily Acanthopteroctetoidea and the infraorder Acanthoctesia; [3] however, based on molecular phylogenetic evidence, they may instead be classified in the superfamily Neopseustoidea, together with the Neopseustidae and Aenigmatineidae. [4] :675,681

Morphology

Moths in this superfamily are usually small (but one is 15 mm. in wingspan) and iridescent. Like other "homoneurous" Coelolepida and non-ditrysian Heteroneura, the ocelli are lost. There are a variety of unique structural characteristics, [5] and they are evolutionary distinctive. [6] The female adults of both Catapterix crimaea [7] and C. tianshanica [8] are unknown.

Diversity and distribution

Four of the species of type genus Acanthopteroctetes ( A. aurulenta , A. bimaculata , A. tripunctata and A. unifascia ) are very localised in Western North America, [9] while its fifth species ( A. nepticuloides ) was described from South Africa. [10] Genus Catapterix has two species, of which Catapterix crimaea has been observed in Crimea and southern France, [7] while Catapterix tianshanica is known from Kyrgyzstan. [8]

In addition, two taxa are known to exist but have so far not been formally described: one from the Andes in Peru, [5] :54 [4] :691 and one from China. [4] :691

Taxonomy

Around the start of the century, they were considered the sister group to all other members of the group Coelolepida [11] [12] , in part based on scale morphology. [5] :53–54

However, modern molecular phylogenetic evidence indicates that Acanthopteroctetidae is most closely related to Neopseustidae, and may even fall within Neopseustidae, rendering it nonmonophyletic. [1]

of the Lepidoptera since then has indicated a close relation between the Acanthopteroctetidae, the Neopseustidae and the Aenigmatineidae, [4] :672–681 and the three may be considered part of a single superfamily Neopseustoidea rather than three separate, monobasic superfamilies. [4] :681 Molecular data from the same research showed weak support for the clade Coelolepida, and weakly contradicted the placement of Acanthopteroctetidae as sister to the remaining Coelolepida. [4] :676

Genus Catapterix was originally described within its own family, Catapterigidae, [13] [14] which is considered a junior synonym of Acanthopteroctidae, [15] with which it shares specialised structural features including similar wing morphology (in A. unifascia). [6] :1255

Biology

Data on the species in Acanthopteroctetidae are scarce. Of the seven described species, only Acanthopteroctetes unifascia has a full description of the larval stage available. [4] :691 [8] Other than a single record of a specimen tentatively identified as Acanthopteroctetes bimaculata, [4] :691 the larvae of the remaining species in both genera are unknown.

Acanthopteroctetes unifascia larvae are leaf-miners on the shrub genus Ceanothus (Rhamnaceae). [5] They form blotch-shaped mines and overwinter as larva, after which feeding continues in spring. [4] Pupation occurs in a cocoon on the ground. [5] The adult moths emerge during spring and are diurnal.

The specimen tentatively identified as Acanthopteroctetes bimaculata was recorded from a leaf mine on a Ribes sp. (Grossulariaceae). [4] :691

Conservation

As of September 2022, none of the species in Acanthopteroctetidae have been evaluated by the IUCN. [16]

Footnotes and references

    1. 1 2 Regier, Jerome C.; Mitter, Charles; Kristensen, Niels P.; Davis, Donald R.; Van Nieukerken, Erik J.; Rota, Jadranka; Simonsen, Thomas J.; Mitter, Kim T.; Kawahara, Akito Y.; Yen, Shen‐Horn; Cummings, Michael P.; Zwick, Andreas (October 2015). "A molecular phylogeny for the oldest (nonditrysian) lineages of extant L epidoptera, with implications for classification, comparative morphology and life‐history evolution". Systematic Entomology. 40 (4): 671–704. doi:10.1111/syen.12129. ISSN   0307-6970.
    2. Eiseman, Charles S. (March 2016). "Notes on the Larval Hosts and Habits of Some North American Eriocraniidae and Acanthopteroctetidae". Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society. 70 (1): 79–81. doi:10.18473/lepi.70i1.a11. ISSN   0024-0966.
    3. Minet, Joël (2002). "Un nom d'infra-ordre pour les Acanthopteroctetidae (Lep.)". Bulletin de la Société entomologique de France (in French). 107 (3): 222. Bibcode:2002AnSEF.107..222M. doi:10.3406/bsef.2002.16845. ISSN   0037-928X. Archived from the original on 2024-05-17. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
    4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Regier, Jerome C.; Mitter, Charles; Kristensen, Niels P.; Davis, Donald R.; Van Nieukerken, Erik J.; Rota, Jadranka; Simonsen, Thomas J.; Mitter, Kim T.; Kawahara, Akito Y.; Yen, Shen-Horn; Cummings, Michael P.; Zwick, Andreas (October 2015). "A molecular phylogeny for the oldest (nonditrysian) lineages of extant Lepidoptera, with implications for classification, comparative morphology and life-history evolution: Molecular phylogeny for nonditrysian Lepidoptera". Systematic Entomology. 40 (4). doi:10.1111/syen.12129. S2CID   86213804.
    5. 1 2 3 4 5 Kristensen, Niels P. (1998-12-31). "5. The Homoneurous Glossata". In Kükenthal, Willy (ed.). Band 4: Arthropoda, 2 Hälfte: Insecta, Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies, Teilband/Part 35, Volume 1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Handbuch der Zoologie. De Gruyter. pp. 51–64. doi:10.1515/9783110804744.51. ISBN   978-3-11-015704-8. Archived from the original on 2024-04-03. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
    6. 1 2 Nielsen, Es; Kristensen, Np (1996). "The Australian moth family Lophocoronidae and the basal phylogeny of the Lepidoptera Glossata" . Invertebrate Systematics. 10 (6): 1199. doi:10.1071/IT9961199. ISSN   1445-5226. Archived from the original on 2024-05-17. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
    7. 1 2 Nel, J.; Varenne, T.; van Nieukerken, Erik (1 January 2016). "Découverte en France d'un lépidoptère "primitif", Catapterix crimaea Zagulajev & Sinev, 1988 (Lepidoptera, Neopseustoidea, Acanthopteroctetidae)". Revue de l'Association Roussillonnaise d'Entomologie. XXV (3): 153–156. ISSN   1288-5509. Archived from the original on 17 May 2024. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
    8. 1 2 3 Mey, Wolfram; Rutjan, Evgeniy (28 September 2016). "Catapterix tianshanica sp. n. – the second species of the genus from the Palaearctic Region (Lepidoptera, Acanthopteroctetidae)". Nota Lepidopterologica. 39 (2): 145–150. doi: 10.3897/nl.39.9882 . Archived from the original on 14 September 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
    9. Davis, Donald R. (1978). "A Revision of the North American Moths of the Superfamily Eriocranioidea with the proposal of a New Family, Acanthopteroctetidae (Lepidoptera)" . Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology (251): 1–131. doi:10.5479/si.00810282.251. hdl:10088/5499. Archived from the original on 2024-03-09. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
    10. Mey, Wolfram (2011). "Basic pattern of Lepidoptera diversity in southwestern Africa". Esperiana Memoir. 6: 151–152. Archived from the original on 17 May 2024. Retrieved 14 September 2022. [linked PDF is incomplete, but gives part of the relevant text]
    11. Wiegmann, Brian M.; Regier, Jerome C.; Mitter, Charles (February 2002). "Combined molecular and morphological evidence on the phylogeny of the earliest lepidopteran lineages" . Zoologica Scripta. 31 (1): 67–81. doi:10.1046/j.0300-3256.2001.00091.x. ISSN   0300-3256. Archived from the original on 2024-05-17. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
    12. Kristensen, Niels P.; Skalski, Andrzej W. (1998-12-31), Kükenthal, Willy (ed.), "2. Phylogeny and Palaeontology", Band 4: Arthropoda, 2 Hälfte: Insecta, Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies, Teilband/Part 35, Volume 1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography, DE GRUYTER, pp. 7–26, doi:10.1515/9783110804744.7, ISBN   978-3-11-015704-8 , retrieved 2026-01-02
    13. Sinev, S.Y. (1988). Systematic position of the Catapterigidae (Lepidoptera) and the problem of the naturalness of the group Heteroneura. Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie, 67: 602-614. In Russian [see Entomological Review (1990) 69: 1-14 for a translation].
    14. Zagulajev, A.K.; Sinev S.Y. (1988). Catapterigidae fam. n. - a new family of lower Lepidoptera (Lepidoptera, Dacnonypha). Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie, 68: 35-43. In Russian [see Entomological Review (1989) 68: 35-43 for a translation].
    15. De Prins, J.; De Prins, W. (2011–2021). "Catapterigidae". Afromoths, online database of Afrotropical moth species (Lepidoptera). Archived from the original on 2 June 2023. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
    16. "IUCN Red List". Archived from the original on 27 June 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2022.

    Further reading