Large butterflies

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The butterflies are often divided into two non-systematic groups, the so-called large butterflies ( Macrolepidoptera ) and the so-called small butterflies ( Microlepidoptera ).

The classic Macrolepidoptera

The classic authors of the 19th century divided the butterflies into the butterflies or Rhopalocera and the moths or heterocera. They regarded the microlepidoptera or small butterflies as a systematic group of these that they v. a. defined after the venation of the hind wings. The Macrolepidoptera were then the others taken together.

With the advent of the phylogenetic systematics or cladistics from the 1950s onwards, it quickly became clear that the groups according to this classification cannot be natural groups. Nevertheless, the use of the terms “large butterflies” and “small butterflies” has persisted up to the present, which is mainly for practical reasons. The large butterflies have always been the focus of interest from butterfly collectors, hobby entomologists and naturalists, while the small butterflies have only been researched by specialists. Many faunistic studies therefore refer to large butterflies.

For practical reasons, the classification has therefore been retained until today, even if the experts using it are quite clear that the groups thus defined are artificial. Classical identification works, such as The Big Butterflies of the Earth by Adalbert Seitz , but also more recent ones such as the Palaearctic Macrolepidoptera series (Volume 1 from 2008) are based on it. The current Red List of Endangered Species from the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation also only deals with large butterflies. Statements on regional or global biodiversity or also on nature conservation, such as those in decades v. a. Voluntary work on the decline of butterflies in Great Britain also mostly only takes into account the “macro-moths”.

According to this definition, the large butterflies basically include all butterflies that are large and conspicuous enough to arouse the interest of collectors and that can be processed and prepared using the classic techniques developed by them. Most of them are, in addition to butterflies, usually to the superfamilies: hepialoidea (with the rootworms ), cossoidea (with wood drills ), lasiocampoidea (with the clucking ) Bombycoidea (with the fanatics , spinners and peacocks spinners ) drepanoidea ( with the sickle-winged ), Geometroidea (with the tensioners ) and Noctuoidea (with the owl butterflies and toothed spiders ).

Macrolepidoptera as a taxon

The entomologist Joel Minet published an influential paper in 1991 in which he introduced a newly defined taxon Macrolepidoptera, this time as a monophyletic unit, after an almost identical grouping on a strictly cladistic basis had been proposed by James Scott in 1986. This grouping has been essentially confirmed by later systematists, even if later processors have incorporated or removed superfamilies according to new findings. The Macrolepidoptera in this sense include the superfamilies Mimallonoidea (with the only family Mimallonidae ), Lasiocampoidea, Bombycoidea, Axioidea (with the only family Axiidae ), Calliduloidea , Drepanoidea, Geometroidea, Noctuoidea.

Molecular analyzes based on comparing homologous DNA sequences instead of comparing morphological features have confirmed the Macrolepidoptera in this sense, albeit with one interesting exception: According to these data, the superfamily Papilionoidea , i.e. butterflies , does not belong to them. These are therefore most closely related to a group of families that invariably includes "small butterflies".

Many more modern editors, following a suggestion by van Nieukerken and colleagues, have used the new term "Macroheterocera" for this group as a taxon instead of the name "Macrolepidoptera" . This is possible because names above the superfamily are not covered by the ICZN nomenclature rules . This allows the editors to deviate from the otherwise mandatory priority rule and freely choose a name they want to use.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. z. BGA Herrich-Schäffer: Systematic processing of the butterflies of Europe: at the same time as text, revision and supplement to Jakob Huebner's collection of European butterflies; 5: The cockroaches and feather moths. Manz, Regensburg, 1853-1855. P. 3 scan online
  2. ^ Willi Hennig (1953): Critical remarks on the phylogenetic system of insects. Contributions to Entomology 3 (special issue): 1–85. doi : 10.21248 / contrib.entomol.3.Special issue 1-85
  3. ↑ A. Schintlmeister: Palaearctic Macrolepidoptera. Vol. 1: Notodontidae. Apollo Books, Stenstrup, Denmark, 2008.
  4. ↑ Peter Pretscher (1998): Red List of Large Butterflies (Macrolepidoptera) In: Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (publisher): Red List of Endangered Animals in Germany. Series of publications for landscape management and nature conservation, issue 55. Bonn-Bad Godesberg 1998. ISBN 3-89624-110-9
  5. ↑ cf. Niels P. Kristensen, Malcolm J. Sroble, Ole Karsholt (2007): Lepidoptera phylogeny and systematics: the state of inventorying moth and butterfly diversity. Zootaxa 1668: 699-747.
  6. ↑ Kelvin F. Conrad, Martin S. Warren, Richard Fox, Mark S. Parsons, Ian P. Woiwod (2006): Rapid declines of common, widespread British moths provide evidence of an insect biodiversity crisis. Biological Conservation 132: 279-291. doi : 10.1016 / j.biocon.2006.04.020
  7. ^ Richard Fox (2013): The decline of moths in Great Britain: a review of possible causes. Insect Conservation and Diversity 6: 5-19. doi : 10.1111 / j.1752-4598.2012.00186.x
  8. ^ Joel Minet (1991): Tentative reconstruction of the ditrysian phylogeny (Lepidoptera: Glossata). Insect Systematics & Evolution, Volume 22, Issue 1: 69 - 95. doi : 10.1163 / 187631291X00327
  9. ↑ James A. Scott (1986): On the monophyly of the Macrolepidoptera, including a reassessment ot their relationships to Cossoidea and Castnioidea, and a reassignment of Mimallonidae to Pyraloidea. Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 25 (1): 30-38.
  10. ↑ cf. NP Kristensen (editor) 1999: Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies. Vol. 1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. x + 491 pp. - In: M. Fischer (editor): Handbook of Zoology 4. Arthropoda: Insecta, part 35. - Walter de Gruyter, Berlin & New York. ISBN 3-11-015704-7
  11. ↑ cf. Jerome C. Regier, Charles Mitter, Andreas Zwick, Adam L. Bazinet, Michael P. Cummings, Akito Y. Kawahara, Jae-Cheon Sohn, Derrick J. Zwickl, Soowon Cho, Donald R. Davis, Joaquin Baixeras, John Brown, Cynthia Parr, Susan Weller, David C. Lees, Kim T. Mitter (2013): A Large-Scale, Higher-Level, Molecular Phylogenetic Study of the Insect Order Lepidoptera (Moths and Butterflies). PLoS ONE 8 (3): e58568. doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0058568
  12. ↑ van Nieukerken, EJ; Kaila, L .; Kitching, IJ; Kristensen, Niels Peder; Lees, DJ; Minet, J .; Mitter, J .; Mutanen, M .; Regier, JC; Simonsen, TJ; Wahlberg, N .; Yen, S.-H .; Zahiri, R .; Adamski, D .; Baixeras, J .; Bartsch, D .; Bengtsson, B. Å .; Brown, JW; Bucheli, RS; Davis, DR; De Prins, J .; De Prins, W .; Epstein, ME; Gentili-Poole, P .; Gielis, C .; Hadenschwiler, P .; Hausmann, A.; Holloway, JP; Kallies, A .; Karsholt, Ole; Kawahara, A .; Koster, SJC; Kozlov, MV; Lafontaine, JD; Lamas, G .; Landry, J.-F. ; Lee, S .; Nut, M .; Park, K.-T .; Penz, C .; Rota, Jadranka; Schmidt, BC; Schintlmeister, A .; Son, JC; Solis, MA; Tarmann, G .; Warren, AD; Weller, S .; Yakovlev, Y .; Zolotuhin, VV; Zwick, A. (2011): Order Lepidoptera Linnaeus, 1758. In ZQ. Zhang (Editor), Animal Biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness. (Vol. 3148, pp. 212-221). Auckland, New Zealand: Magnolia Press. (Zootaxa, Vol. 3148).