Papilionoidea
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Little fox ( Aglais urticae ) |
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| Latreille , 1802 |
The Papilionoidea are a superfamily of butterflies (Lepidoptera) comprising around 14,500 species . It includes the families of knight butterflies (Papilionidae), whiteflies (Pieridae), bluebells (Lycaenidae) and noble butterflies (Nymphalidae). The thick-headed butterflies (Hesperiidae) also belong to them according to recent findings; earlier they were often incorporated into their own superfamily, the Hesperioidea. There is also a South American "moth" family, the Hedylidae . The superfamily includes many of the most colorful types of butterflies. It includes 457 species and subspecies in Europe , 193 in Germany. Its main distribution area is the tropics .
features
The moths vary in size from very small to very large species. A number of anatomical features that are very difficult to see are considered autapomorphies : The furca of the metathorax (a sclerite that extends inward and reinforces the thorax and on which various muscles are attached) has an extension that points outwards (ventrodistal); the fore wing is a sclerite of the wing joint, the second median plate, partially covered by the base of two wing arteries, the first and the second anal artery, the tergum of the first segment of the abdomen (abdomen) is arched.
A number of other features are problematic. The anepisternum of the metathorax consists of a very small sclerite , which is difficult to recognize due to its size, or (in the thick-headed butterflies) is at least very small. The parepisternal suture runs in a straight line or in an only slightly curved arc from the dorsal end on the back to the base of the sclerite. In the other butterflies this seam is strongly curved. The extent of the characteristic is, however, quite variable between families. The mesophragma has dorsal processes (reduced to narrow edges in the Hesperiidae and Hedylidae), but this is possibly a plesiomorphism. The abdominal (ventral) border of the tegula is connected to the mesonotum by a membrane and the secondary sclerite is located behind the metascutellum .
The moths have no point eyes ( ocelli ). Their antennae are usually club-shaped thickened at the tip. The proboscis are usually well developed, the maxillary palps are well developed, but mostly short or absent. The labial palps consist of three limbs and are directed either forward or upward. In some species they are elongated or shortened. In some families, the front legs are severely receded. The wing pairs are connected during flight (except for some Hedylidae) not by a frenulum , but by overlapping wing areas. This is known as an "amplexiform" coupling.
The eggs are very different in shape and structure. The doll is exposed, without a dense, covering, enveloping web ( cocoon ) and is usually connected at the rear end with a silk cushion which is made on the substrate. Your middle section of the trunk (mesothorax) is thickened.
Taxonomy and systematics
A large-scale study published in March 2013 examined the entire order of butterflies for kinship relationships. In contrast to older systematics, the families of the thick-headed butterflies (Hesperiidae) and Hedylidae are classified in the superfamily Papilionoidea in this study .
The superfamily Papilionoidea thus comprises seven families, whose relationships result in the following cladogram :
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supporting documents
- ↑ Papilionoidea in Fauna Europaea. Retrieved February 25, 2011
- ^ R. Reinhardt (1995): The butterflies of the Federal Republic of Germany - an overview in the federal states (Lep.). Entomological News and Reports 39 (3): 109-132.
- ↑ Thomas J. Simonsen, Rienk de Jong, Maria Heikkilä, Lauri Kaila (2012): Butterfly morphology in a molecular age. Does it still matter in butterfly systematics? Arthropod Structure & Development 41: 307-322. doi : 10.1016 / j.asd.2012.04.006
- ↑ Jerome C. Regier, Charles Mitter a. a .: A Large-Scale, Higher-Level, Molecular Phylogenetic Study of the Insect Order Lepidoptera (Moths and Butterflies). In: PLoS ONE. 8, 2013, p. E58568, doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0058568 .
literature
- Niels P. Kristensen: Lepidoptera, moths and butterflies . In: Maximilian Fischer (Ed.): Handbook of Zoology . 1st edition. tape 4 - Arthropoda: Insecta , volume 35. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1998, ISBN 3-11-015704-7 (English).
- Malcolm J. Scoble: The Lepidoptera: Form, Function and Diversity . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1995, ISBN 0-19-854952-0 (English).