| Agathiphaga | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Agathiphaga vitiensis | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Suborder: | Aglossata Speidel, 1977 |
| Superfamily: | Agathiphagoidea N. P. Kristensen, 1967 |
| Family: | Agathiphagidae N. P. Kristensen, 1967 |
| Genus: | Agathiphaga Dumbleton, 1952 |
| Species | |
| |
Agathiphaga is a genus of moths, known as kauri moths, and is the only living genus in the family Agathiphagidae. This caddisfly-like lineage of moths was first reported by Lionel Jack Dumbleton in 1952, as a new genus of Micropterigidae. [1]
The genus Agathiphaga (family Agathiphagidae) belongs to one of the most 'basal' clades of Lepidoptera, lacking a functional proboscis [2] – an ancestral trait shared with Micropterigoidea (representing the earliest known divergence among living Lepidoptera) and the genus Heterobathmia (family Heterobathmiidae). Agathiphagidae form the sister group to a clade encompassing Heterobathmiidae and Glossata (the proboscis-bearing butterflies and moths). The caterpillars feed exclusively on the sapwood of kauri trees ( Agathis spp.) The larvae have been reported to be able to survive for 12 years in diapause, [3] durability possibly a prerequisite to its possible dispersion around the Pacific islands in the seeds of Agathis.
Dumbleton described two species. Agathiphaga queenslandensis is found along the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia, and its larvae feed on Agathis robusta . [4] Agathiphaga vitiensis is found from Fiji to Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, and its larvae feed on Agathis vitiensis .
A fossil member of Agathiphagidae, Agathiphagama, is known from the Burmese amber of Myanmar, dating to the early Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, approximately 99 million years ago. [5]
