Chalcosiinae

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Chalcosiinae
Eterusia repleta.jpg
Eterusia repleta
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Zygaenidae
Subfamily: Chalcosiinae
Type species
Sphinx pectinicornis
L.
Genera

Over 65, see text

Cyclosia papilionaris, female Cyclosia papilionaris by Kadavoor.JPG
Cyclosia papilionaris, female

Chalcosiinae is a subfamily of the Zygaenidae, containing many species, mostly little known. Prominent sexual dimorphism, bright aposematic coloration and mimicry complexes are widespread.

Contents

Several members of this subfamily remain relatively obscure, only being known from a single specimen, as in the case of the genus Isocrambia . Some others are known from specimens of a specific sex, such as Cyanidia and Allocaprima .

Distribution

The members of Chalcosiinae are distributed throughout Palearctic East Asia, Southeast Asia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. The majority of the subfamily extending as far north as the Russian Far-East ( Elcysma westwoodi [1] ) and as far west as Pakistan ( Campylotes ). A single genus, Aglaope is disjunctly distributed from the remainder of the subfamily, being found in the Iberian peninsula and Southern France.

Mimicry

A large majority of Chalcosiine moths engage in mimicry complexes with a large variety of butterflies and moths. Yen Shen-Horn designates 19 unique types, separated by wing patterns which allow the ability to mimic a large variety of lepidopterans.

Species that are mimicked by Chalcosiine moths include:

Laelia , Pantana , Calinaga , Parantica , Aporia , Idea , Ideopsis , Euploea , Danaus , Delias , Eurema , Milionia , Scrobigera , Nyctemera , Dysphania , Lithosiinae, Sesiidae, Syntomini, Asota , Damias , Retina , Troidini, Melanothrix

Systematics

Alberti (1954) created five tribes within the subfamily. The five tribes only covered 40 genera, with the remaining 25 genera at the time lacking the proper material to warrant division. With this subfamily's notorious obscurity, and the relative variation between species and subspecies, the relationships between members is still quite indeterminate. [2] S.H. Yen and team (2005) proposes 18 clades, with the Heteropanini being elevated to subfamily level. Clade 1 encompassing Agalopini and Aglaopini, Clade 2 encompassing an extended Cyclosiini, and Chalcosiini being the remainder of clades 6-18. As they describe, the nomenclature for this subfamily is currently unstable and is subject to further revision.

The subfamily consists of about 380 species in 70 genera. It contains the following genera [3] [4]

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Oecophoridae Family of moths

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Nolidae Family of moths

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Mimallonidae Family of moths

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Gelechioidea Superfamily of moths

Gelechioidea is the superfamily of moths that contains the case-bearers, twirler moths, and relatives, also simply called curved-horn moths or gelechioid moths. It is a large and poorly understood '"micromoth" superfamily, constituting one of the basal lineages of the Ditrysia.

Coleophoridae Family of moths

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Epicopeiidae Family of moths

Epicopeiidae is a family of insects in the order Lepidoptera. They are known as oriental swallowtail moths as they closely resemble some oriental swallowtail butterflies. Epicopeiidae have highly varied structure in regards to body size and wing shape. Epicopeiidaen wing patterns are involved in complicated mimicry rings.

Batrachedridae Family of moths

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Epipleminae Subfamily of moths

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Pyralini Tribe of moths

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Hippeastreae Tribe of flowering plants

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<i>Gaeana</i> Genus of true bugs

Gaeana is a genus of cicadas, most members of which have colourful marking on their forewings, found across tropical and temperate Asia. Their bright wing patterns have been hypothesized as being a case of Batesian mimicry where the toxic models may be day-flying moths of the subfamilies Zygaeninae and Arctiinae. It is closely related to the genus Tosena but is differentiated by the exposed tympanum and lacks spines on the sides of the pronotum.

Epimarptidae was a former, or is a possible, monotypic family of moths in the moth superfamily Gelechioidea. It can now be seen as either a synonym of family Batrachedridae, or a monotypic subfamily of that family.

References

  1. "Elcysma westwoodi, color image". szmn.eco.nsc.ru. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  2. Quicke, Donald L. J.; Robinson, Gaden S.; Yen, Shen-Horn (1 February 2005). "The phylogenetic relationships of Chalcosiinae (Lepidoptera, Zygaenoidea, Zygaenidae)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 143 (2): 161–341. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2005.00139.x . ISSN   0024-4082.
  3. Wikispecies: Chalcosiinae. Version of 14:15, 7 November 2006. Wikispecies is not overly reliable for Lepidoptera and should be replaced by a scientific source.
  4. Beccaloni, George; et al. (eds.). "Search Results Subfamily: Chalcosiinae". The Global Lepidoptera Names Index. Natural History Museum, London.