Feather moths

Feather moths
Pterophorus pentadactyla
Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta) Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera) Subordination : Glossata Superfamily : Pterophoroidea Family : Feather moths
Scientific name of the  superfamily
Pterophoroidea
Zeller , 1815
Scientific name of the  family
Pterophoridae
Zeller , 1815

The feather moths (Pterophoridae) are a family of butterflies . They occur worldwide with over 1,130 species in 90 genera .

features

The moths reach a wingspan of 13 to 30 millimeters. You have a long and slim body. Their wings are very narrow. The forewings are six to twelve times longer than wide. In some species they are severely cut or frayed. They are designed in such a way that flexible bristles protrude on both sides of rigid struts, as is the case with springs . Very few species have "normal" butterfly wings. The thread-like antennae are of medium length and about half to three quarters as long as the forewings. Your maxillary palps are strongly regressed, the scaly proboscis is fully developed.

The front wings have seven to 13 wing veins with two anal veins (1b and 1c). The hind wings have six to eight wing veins with one or two anal veins (1b or 1b and 1c).

The eggs have no characteristic distinguishing features. They are round to oval, elliptical and slightly flattened at the top. The egg surface is smooth or has a fine network structure. The color varies from whitish-yellow to pale or strong green tones.

The larvae are easy to recognize by the dense pattern of their hairs. A group of caterpillars has long hair, often on the body. In some cases, they produce a sticky liquid that protects the larva from parasites . The hairs are usually arranged in groups and form four longitudinal rows on the caterpillar body. The long-haired larvae often have an irregular pattern of green and brown dots or lines. Another group of larvae has short hairs and often lives mining in stalks or roots. They are yellowish-white or red-brown and have no markings. The ovoid larvae (L1) of this group have significantly shorter and less dense hairs than the caterpillars of the subsequent stages.

The pupae tend to have a similar, but less developed hair pattern as the caterpillars, although this is only weakly developed in the mining species. A conspicuous dorsal structure is observed in some representatives of the genera Platyptilia , Stenoptilodes , Lantanophaga , Paraplatyptilia and Stenoptilia . It has not yet been clarified whether this is meaningful. The shape of the imago becomes clear on the pupal surface, especially in the area of ​​the head, trunk, palps and wings.

distribution

The feather moth family is widespread and its representatives can be found worldwide. The habitats populated here are very diverse, so species of the Agdistis genus live on salt marshes along the coasts and in desert-like biotopes in southern Spain . Representatives of the genus Stenoptilia live at high altitudes in the Alps and can also be found under arctic conditions in Iceland and Greenland . Other species occur in the herb layer of shady forests or forest clearings. Extremely humid biotopes such as moors , wet meadows and the banks of rivers are populated as well as heathland and roadsides.

Feather moth in size comparison with a fingertip

Way of life

The moths are active at night or at dawn. When at rest, they have stretched their wings completely or partially away from the body. This gives the animals a "T" shape.

The caterpillars live on the leaves of plants, but some species develop endophytically in plant stems and their roots. Hibernation takes place either as an egg, caterpillar or butterfly, depending on the species.

Among them are species that can cause agricultural damage, such as Platyptilia carduidactyla in California on artichokes . In the garden, Platyptilia pica on geraniums and Stenoptilodes antirrhina on snapdragons are defective. But there are also feather moths that are used to prevent certain plants from reproducing unhindered. Lantanophaga pusillidactyla is used against the plants Lantana camara and Oidematophorus beneficus against Ageratina riparia .

Systematics

history

Within the binomial nomenclature , Carl von Linné first dealt with the feather moths in his work Systema Naturae (10th edition). He dealt with species from the family of feather spirits (Alucitidae) with the following description:

"Alis digitalis fissis ad basin."

- Carl von Linné : Systema Naturae, 10th edition

"With wings cut like fingers to the base"

With the "Fauna Suecica" (1761) further species were briefly described.

Authors such as Scopoli , Denis & Schiffermüller and Haworth later described other new species. In the period from 1796 to 1834, Huebner published the "Collection of European Butterflies", which significantly improved our knowledge of butterflies. Duponchel and Zeller dealt critically with this work, so that as a result many of the species described by Hübner had to be regarded as synonyms of the species already described.

At the end of the 18th century it was found that at least the feather spirits (Alucitidae) form an independent family. This group of species was split off from Latreille in 1796 . The subdivision of the species remaining in the feather moth family into their genera continued until the publication of Huebner's "Directory of known butterflies" in 1825.

In 1841 and 1852, Zeller revised the fauna of the feather moths, which had been known up until then, but made no significant changes to the system proposed up to then. Wallengren worked on the Scandinavian species and introduced a finer differentiation of the genera, but left the existing structure untouched.

In 1907 Tutt divided the family of feather moths into the subfamilies Agdistinae, Platyptiliinae and Pterophirinae and introduced a number of new genera and subgenera - mainly for the European fauna.

Meyrick worked on small butterflies all over the world and described, among other things, many new species of feather moths. He published his results in "Genera Insectorum" in 1908 and in "Lepidorum Catalogus" in 1913. Meyrick, however, underestimated the work of Tutt, so that he synonymous many species described by Tutt .

Other researchers have built on Meyrick's work, including T. B. Fletcher, who studied the fauna of the British Empire and Lord Walsingham, who studied the butterflies of North and Central America . For the areas of North America, scientists like Fernald, Barnes, Lindsey, Lamge and McDunnough should be mentioned, for the Pacific region and Japan these are Zimmermann, Yano and Gates Clark.

Internal system

In Europe , the feather moth family is represented with around 170 species and subspecies, of which 79 species occur in Central Europe . These are divided into the subfamilies Agdistinae and Pterophorinae. In tropical areas there are other species that belong to the subfamilies Ochyroticinae and Deuterocopinae. The following list of species contains the species represented in Europe; the representatives based in Central Europe are marked according to their distribution (A = Austria , CH = Switzerland , D = Germany ).

Family Pterophoridae

External system

Source: Tree of Life Project

Butterflies	Exporia      Heteroneura   Ditrysia  Gelechioidea     Yponomeutoidea     Gracillarioidea     Tineoidea      Apoditrysia  Obtectomera     Winder (Tortricidae)     Zygaenoidea     Feather moths (Pterophoridae)     Alucitoidea     Epermeniidae     Terror stone oidea     Spread wing butterflies (Choreutidae)     Urodidae      NN  Sesioidea     Cossoidea

Development history

A species of feather moth found at least 23 million years old is known from France : Pterophorus oligocenicus Bigot, A. Nel & J. Nel, 1986 is dated to the Oligocene .

swell

Individual evidence

1. ↑ C. Gielis: Pterophoroidea & Alucitoidea. In: World Catalog of Insects. Volume 4 , Apollo Books, 2003, ISBN 87-88757-68-4
2. ↑ C. Gielis: Pterophoridae. In: P. Huemer, O. Karsholt, L. Lyneborg (Eds.): Microlepidoptera of Europe 1: 1-222. , Apollo Books 1996, ISBN 87-88757-36-6
3. ^ J. Huebner: Collection of European butterflies. Augsburg, 1796-1834.
4. ↑ P. A. J. Duponchel: In: J. B. Godart, Histoire naturelle des Lepidopteres ou Papillons de France. 8, pp. 631-685, Mequigong-Marvis, Paris 1840
5. ↑ P. A. J. Duponchel: In: J. B. Godart, Histoire naturelle des Lepidopteres ou Papillons de France. 11, pp. 287-314. Mequignon-Marvis, Paris, 1840
6. ↑ P. A. J. Duponchel: In: J. B. Godart, Histoire naturelle des Lepidopteres ou Papillons de France. Nocturnes, Suppl. 4, pp. 51-90, Mequignon-Marvis, Paris 1844
7. ↑ ^{a b} P. C. Zeller: Forerunner of a complete natural history of the pterophorids, a family of moths. lsis von Oken 10, pp. 756-794, pp. 827-891, 1841
8. ↑ P. A. Latreille: Precis des caracteres gkneriques des insectes, disposes dans un ordre naturel. Paris 1796
9. ↑ P. C. Zeller: Revision of the pterophorides. Linn. ent. 1: pp. 319-413, 1852
10. ↑ H. D. J. Wallengren: Scandinavia Fjadermott. K. svenska Vetensk Akad. Handl. (NF) 3 (7): pp. 1-25, 1862
11. ^ J. W. Tutt: A Natural History of the British Lepidoptera. Vol. V., London, Berlin 1907
12. ↑ E. Meyrick: Lepidoptera Heterocera (Pyrales): Fam. Pterophoridae. In: P. Wytsman, (Ed.): Genera Insect. 100: pp. 1-22, Tervueren 1908
13. ↑ Pterophoridae. Fauna Europaea, accessed January 3, 2007 .  
14. ↑ Pterophoridae. Lepiforum eV, accessed on January 3, 2007 .  
15. ↑ Ditrysia ( English ) Tree of Life Project. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
16. ↑ L. Bigot, A. Nel, J. Nel: Description de la premikre espkce fossile connue de pterophore. Alexanor 14: pp. 283-288, 1986

literature

• Thomas Kaltenbach, Peter Victor Küppers: Small butterflies. Verlag J. Neudamm-Neudamm, Melsungen 1987, ISBN 3-7888-0510-2
• Peter V. Küppers: Small butterflies. Recognize, determine. Fauna Verlag 2008, ISBN 978-3-935980-24-1

Web links

Commons : feather moths  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• British Insects: the Families of Lepidoptera (English)