Acanthopteroctetidae
Infraorder of moths
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
| Acanthopteroctetidae | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Clade: | Coelolepida |
| Infraorder: | Acanthoctesia |
| Superfamily: | Acanthopteroctetoidea |
| Family: | Acanthopteroctetidae Davis, 1978 |
| Genera and species | |
|
Acanthopteroctetes Braun, 1921
Catapterix Zagulajev & Sinev, 1988
| |
| Diversity | |
| 7 described species in 2 genera + 2 undescribed species | |
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
