Apatelodidae, the American silkworm moths, is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s in the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

. They are a family within the

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

Bombycoidea Bombycoidea is a superfamily of moths. It contains the silk moths, emperor moths, sphinx moths, and relatives. The Lasiocampoidea The Lasiocampidae are a family of moths also known as eggars, tent caterpillars, snout moths (although this also ...

, though they have in the past been considered a subfamily of

Bombycidae The Bombycidae are a family of moths. The best-known species is ''Bombyx mori'' (Linnaeus) or silkworm, native to northern China and domesticated for millennia. Another well-known species is ''Bombyx mandarina'', also native to Asia. Taxonomy Th ...

Distribution

Species are exclusively found in the New World, with the highest diversity in the

Neotropical realm The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

Diversity

Apatelodidae is undergoing taxonomic and phylogenetic revision, as a result of which the exact numbers of genera and species included have been subject to frequent change. "A global checklist of the Bombycoidea" (Kitching et al. 2018) lists twelve genera and 182 species for the family. Not included in the checklist are taxonomic changes that occurred shortly before, or since, publication. Some examples of such changes are the addition of genera '' Arotros'' (transferred from

in 2019) and '' Asocia'' (newly described in 2021) to Apatelodidae, the synonymization of ''Apatelodes florisa'' to '' Apatelodes schreiteri'', or the description of several new species such as '' Apatelodes navarroi'', '' Pantelodes camacana'', and seven new species of ''Arotros''.

Taxonomy

Apatelodidae has historically been placed as subfamily Apatelodinae within the

, alongside Phiditiinae and Epiinae. Recent revisions of the taxonomy of

have seen both Apatelodidae and Phiditiidae elevated to separate families within the superfamily, while Epiinae remains a subfamily of Bombycidae. During those taxonomical revisions, several genera formerly placed in Apatelodinae—such as ''

Anticla ''Anticla'' is a genus of moths of the Bombycidae The Bombycidae are a family of moths. The best-known species is ''Bombyx mori'' (Linnaeus) or silkworm, native to northern China and domesticated for millennia. Another well-known species is '' ...

'' and ''

Quentalia ''Quentalia'' is a genus of moths of the family Bombycidae first described by William Schaus in 1929. It has at times been placed in the family Apatelodidae Apatelodidae, the American silkworm moths, is a family of insects in the order Lepid ...

''—were transferred to Epiinae.

Genera

The list below follows the 2018 Global Checklist of Bombycoidea of Kitching et al, with exception of changes since, in which case an additional reference is given. *'' Apatelodes'' Packard, 1864 *'' Arotros'' Schaus, 1892 *'' Asocia'' Herbin, 2021 *'' Carnotena'' Walker, 1865 *'' Drepatelodes'' Draudt, 1929 *'' Ephoria'' Herring-Schäffer, 1855 *'' Epiopsis'' Piñas Rubio, 2008 *'' Falcatelodes'' Draudt, 1929 *'' Olceclostera'' Butler, 1878 *'' Pantelodes'' Herbin, 2017 *''

Prothysana ''Prothysana'' is a genus of moths of the family Apatelodidae. It contains two species, whose larvae are known as shag-carpet caterpillars. They are found from Mexico, south to Panama and into South America, at least to Ecuador. Taxonomy Vitor O ...

'' Walker, 1855 *'' Thelosia'' Schaus, 1896 *'' Thyrioclostera'' Draudt, 1929 *'' Zanola'' Walker, 1855

References

External links

ACG
Page of images of Apatelodidae from Area de Conservación Guanacaste,

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

. {{Taxonbar, from=Q3620570 Moth families