Apoprogoninae is a
monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...
subfamily of the
moth
Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
Sematuridae
Sematuridae is a family of moths in the lepidopteran order that contains two subfamilies ( Minet and Scoble, 1999).
Taxonomy, systematics, and identification
These are large day- or night-flying moths, usually tailed and similar to Uraniidae ...
. Its single genus, ''Apoprogones'', containing a single species, ''Apoprogones hesperistis'', were both described by
George Hampson
Sir George Francis Hampson, 10th Baronet (14 January 1860 – 15 October 1936) was an English entomologist.
Hampson studied at Charterhouse School and Exeter College, Oxford. He travelled to India to become a tea-planter in the Nilgiri Hills o ...
in 1903.
[Image](_blank)
/ref> It is known from Eswatini and South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
.
Taxonomy and systematics
''Apoprogones hesperistis'' is presumably the sister taxon
In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree.
Definition
The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram:
Taxon A and ...
of some or all South American Sematuridae but fresh collections are probably needed to use a DNA sequencing approach to this question. The moth measures 4 cm in wingspan and was previously placed in the family Castniidae (Shields and Dvorak, 1979) but it was recognised by Anthonie Johannes Theodorus Janse
Dr Anthonie Johannes Theodorus Janse, also known as Antonius Johannes Theodorus Janse and by other orthographic variations, was a pioneer of South African entomology who specialised in Lepidoptera. His multi-volumed work, ''The Moths of South A ...
(Janse, 1932) as belonging to this family.
Morphology and identification
''A. hesperistis'' has strongly clubbed
''Clubbed'' is a 2008 British drama film about a 1980s factory worker who takes up a job as a club doorman, written by Geoff Thompson and directed by Neil Thompson.
Plot
In 1984, Danny - a lonely factory worker intimidated by life - is batter ...
or hooked antennae, like a butterfly
Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprise ...
, giving it a skipper-like appearance (Shields and Dvorak, 1979), hence the species name. The hindwing
Insect wings are adult outgrowths of the insect exoskeleton that enable insects to fly. They are found on the second and third thoracic segments (the mesothorax and metathorax), and the two pairs are often referred to as the forewings and hindwi ...
is not tailed, unlike Sematurinae
Sematurinae is a subfamily of moths in the family Sematuridae represented by at least 29 species in the Neotropics.
Taxonomy, classification and identification
Sematurinae has three principal genera, and possibly another two. The hindwing of ''C ...
which have the veins "M2" and "M3" in the hindwing bearing tails (Minet and Scoble, 1999). The adult male moth has a pair of hair-pencil
Hair-pencils and coremata are pheromone signaling structures present in lepidopteran males. Males use hair-pencils in courtship behaviors with females. The pheromones they excrete serve as both aphrodisiacs and tranquilizers to females as well as r ...
s at the base of the abdomen
The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the to ...
. On the head (in contrast to Sematurinae
Sematurinae is a subfamily of moths in the family Sematuridae represented by at least 29 species in the Neotropics.
Taxonomy, classification and identification
Sematurinae has three principal genera, and possibly another two. The hindwing of ''C ...
) the ocelli
A simple eye (sometimes called a pigment pit) refers to a form of eye or an optical arrangement composed of a single lens and without an elaborate retina such as occurs in most vertebrates. In this sense "simple eye" is distinct from a multi-l ...
are absent and the compound eye
A compound eye is a visual organ found in arthropods such as insects and crustaceans. It may consist of thousands of ommatidia, which are tiny independent photoreception units that consist of a cornea, lens, and photoreceptor cells which disti ...
s are not hairy; the wing venation
Venation may refer to:
* Venation (botany), the arrangement of veins in leaves
* Wing venation, the arrangement of veins in insect wings
See also
*
* Vernation
Vernation (from ''vernal'' meaning ''spring'', since that is when leaves spring fort ...
differs between subfamilies and the forewing "M1" vein is "free" as opposed to sharing a "stalk" with vein "R1" in Sematurinae
Sematurinae is a subfamily of moths in the family Sematuridae represented by at least 29 species in the Neotropics.
Taxonomy, classification and identification
Sematurinae has three principal genera, and possibly another two. The hindwing of ''C ...
(Minet and Scoble, 1999). These and other structural differences have been enough for some authors to consider the African and American groups distinct at family level.
Conservation
Apoprogoninae is an evolutionarily distinctive higher-level taxon
In biology, a taxon ( back-formation from '' taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular n ...
which is geographically restricted and apparently not seen since its description
Description is the pattern of narrative development that aims to make vivid a place, object, character, or group. Description is one of four rhetorical modes (also known as ''modes of discourse''), along with exposition, argumentation, and narra ...
in the early 1900s, and therefore merits dedicated conservation attention and new surveys.EDGE of Existence
/ref>
Notes
References
*Minet, J. and Scoble, M. J. (1999) 998
Year 998 ( CMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* Spring – Otto III retakes Rome and restores power in the papal city. Crescenti ...
The Drepanoid/Geometroid Assemblage. Pp. 301–320 in Kristensen, N.P. (Ed.), 1999 998
Year 998 ( CMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* Spring – Otto III retakes Rome and restores power in the papal city. Crescenti ...
''Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies. Volume 1, Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography''. Handbook of Zoology, vol. IV, Arthropoda: Insecta, Part 35: 491 pp. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and New York.
*Janse, A.J.T. 1932. ''The Moths of South Africa, Vol. 1. Sematuridae and Geometridae''. E.P. Commercial Printing Company, Durban. 376 pp.
*Shields, O and Dvorak, S.K. 1979. Butterfly distribution and continental drift between the Americas, the Caribbean and Africa. ''Journal of Natural History'', 13(2): 221–250.
Sematuridae
Moths of Africa
{{Geometroidea-stub