Mnesarchaea

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Mnesarchaea
Mnesarchaea acuta

Mnesarchaea acuta

Systematics
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Subordination : Glossata
without rank: Exoporia
Superfamily : Mnesarchaeoidea
Family : Mnesarchaeidae
Genre : Mnesarchaea
Scientific name of the  superfamily
Mnesarchaeoidea
Eyer , 1924
Scientific name of the  family
Mnesarchaeidae
Eyer , 1924
Scientific name of the  genus
Mnesarchaea
Meyrick , 1886

Mnesarchaea is agenus of butterflies endemic to New Zealand . It is taxonomically isolated and is placed in its own family Mnesarchaeidae and even its own superfamily Mnesarchaeoidea .

features

They are small butterflies with a wingspan of between eight and twelve millimeters with narrow, pointed wings that end with a noticeably wide fringe. Some species of the genus have quite conspicuous color patterns of white, brown and golden scales, and the top of the head and torso are strikingly white. The other types are monochrome, brownish or straw-colored and inconspicuous. The head has dense, protruding scales. The labial and maxillary palps are tripartite, the maxillary palps very short. The proboscis is short but functional and can be moved by the muscles (in contrast to the hepialoid, where it is stunted). The antennae are relatively long, thread-like and scaled. The tibia of the forelegs has no spur; there are two spurs on the mid-tibia and four on the hind tibia. The wing veins are somewhat variable, but always similar between the fore and hind wings ("Homoneura"), in the fore wing usually at least 13, in the hind wing at least 12 veins reach the wing edge; usually with only one anal artery in the fore wing. The hind wings have no real frenulum .

The caterpillar has only been described in one species, Mnesarchaea acuta . When fully grown, it is nine millimeters long and olive green to brown in color, without any markings. The three thoracic segments are significantly narrower than the head and the segments of the abdomen and are very mobile in relation to one another. The caterpillar is quite inconspicuous with black hair, the Chaetotaxie is similar to that of the Hepialiden caterpillars. The head capsule and a sclerotized plate on the prothorax are colored brown. You can move quickly both forwards and backwards. The species has four caterpillar stages, it pupates in a spindle-shaped cocoon that is camouflaged with plant remains. Its surface has numerous hook-shaped spines. The pupa has no movable mandibles (pupa adectica). As with all "higher" butterflies, the body appendages are glued to the trunk (pupa obtecta), but they are not connected to the abdomen. The abdominal segments are movable.

Way of life

All species are forest dwellers, they prefer moist primary forests. They can be found here on the ground or in the ground vegetation. At rest they sit with roof-shaped wings, slightly raised head and upright antennae. They are essentially diurnal and not visiting flowers. The life cycle is only better known in Mnesarchaea acuta . This is univoltin (one generation per year) with a flight period from mid-November to mid-December, i.e. in southern summer. After about 4 weeks, caterpillars hatch from the eggs laid individually on moss plants on the ground by the female, they develop by the following winter and pupate in early spring. The caterpillars live in the moist layer of moss and liverwort on the forest floor or on the ground itself. They are unspecialized in their diet and ingest mosses, dead and green leaves, ferns and their spores and detritus. They spin complex galleries from spatially connected silk tubes in which they live.

distribution

Most species live in the north of the South Island and the North Island , three species are restricted to these.

Taxonomy

The sister group relationship to the Hepialoidea, with which together they form the Exoporia, has been confirmed in all morphological and molecular studies and is considered undisputed. According to a recent study, sister group of these could be the Lophocoronidae , according to morphological investigations more likely the Heteroneura .

The genus includes seven described species.

In addition, at least four undescribed species should exist.

swell

  • GW Gibbs (1979): Some notes on the biology and status of the Mnesarchaeidae (Lepidoptera) . New Zealand Entomologist Vol. 7, No. 1: 2-9.
  • JS Dugdale (1988): Lepidoptera - annotated catalog, and keys to family-group taxa . Fauna of New Zealand 14, 264 pp.
  • Niels P. Kristensen : Handbuch der Zoologie / Handbook of zoology . Volume 4, Part 35 Lepidoptera. Walter de Gruyter Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3110157047 . 530 pages.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ HW Krenn & NP Kristensen (2000): Early evolution of the proboscis of Lepidoptera (Insecta): external morphology of the galea in basal glossatan moths lineages, with remarks on the origin of the pilifers. Zoological Gazette Vol. 239 No. 2: 179-196
  2. ^ GW Gibbs (1990): Local or global? Biogeography of some primitive Lepidoptera in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Zoology Vol 16: 689-698.
  3. ↑ Jerome C. Regier, Charles Mitter, Andreas Zwick, Adam L. Bazinet, Michael P. Cummings, Akito Y. Kawahara, Jae-Cheon Sohn, Derrick J. Zwick, 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
  4. ↑ Niels P. Kristensen, Malcolm J. Scoble, Ole Karsholt (2007): Lepidoptera phylogeny and systematics: the state of inventorying moth and butterfly diversity. Zootaxa 1668: 699-747.
  5. ^ JS Dugdale (1988): Lepidoptera - annotated catalog, and keys to family-group taxa. Fauna of New Zealand 14, 264 pp.

Web links

Commons : Mnesarchaea  - collection of images, videos and audio files