''Niphopyralis'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of
snout moths of the
subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...
Spilomelinae
Spilomelinae is a very species-rich subfamily of the lepidopteran family Crambidae, the crambid snout moths. With 4,135 described species in 344 genera worldwide, it is the most speciose group among pyraloidea, pyraloids.
Description
Imagines ...
in the
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 ...
Crambidae
The Crambidae are the grass moth family of lepidopterans. They are variable in appearance, the nominal subfamily Crambinae (grass moths) taking up closely folded postures on grass stems where they are inconspicuous, while other subfamilies includ ...
.
Description
Caterpillars
The reports on larvae are somewhat divergent, depending on the species and the condition of the larvae (fresh versus alcohol-preserved): The fully-grown caterpillar of ''Niphopyralis myrmecophila'' (according to material preserved in alcohol) is approximately 14 mm in length, 4.4 mm thick at its largest diameter, and completely colourless, with the
spiracles visible as fine, shiny colourless dots. The larval body is naked, hardly flattened, markedly tapered anteriorly and posteriorly, with all segments bulging out almost in a
physogastric
Physogastrism or physogastry is a characteristic of certain arthropods (mostly insects and mites), where the abdomen is greatly enlarged and membranous. The most common examples are the "queens" of certain species of eusocial insects such as termit ...
way. The head is small and
prognathous
Prognathism, also called Habsburg jaw or Habsburgs' jaw primarily in the context of its prevalence amongst members of the House of Habsburg, is a positional relationship of the Human mandible, mandible or maxilla to the skeletal base where eithe ...
. The thoracal legs are well developed, the
proleg
A proleg is a small, fleshy, stub structure found on the ventral surface of the abdomen of most larval forms of insects of the order Lepidoptera, though they can also be found on other larval insects such as sawflies and a few other types of in ...
s are strongly reduced, and only at high magnification the single circle of crochets and the small papilla are visible; the anal prolegs are completely reduced,
[ but this may be due to the investigated larvae being in the process of pupation.][
The fully-grown caterpillar of '']Niphopyralis aurivillii
''Niphopyralis aurivillii'' is a moth in the grass moths family (Crambidae). It was described by Nils Victor Alarik Kemner in 1923. It is found in Indonesia (Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands ...
'' are 6 to 7.5 mm long and 1.5 mm thick, and is tapers only slightly towards the ends. The body has a yellow-white colour, with head and pronotum somewhat darker. The entire body is diffusely covered with long, soft, colourless chaetae. The head is about two thirds the breadth of the pronotum, almost twice as long as broad, and tapered towards the front. The two epicranial halves are almost triangular and encompass a large tongue-shaped frontal plate that reaches posteriad to the occipital opening. Each side of the head bears six ocelli, with the upper five in a curved line, and the sixth separate more ventral; the latter ocellus is not pigmented like the others. The larval antennae are consist of three merons. The mandibles long and conspicuously pointed in young larvae, more blunt in older larvae. The labium carries a well-developed spinneret
A spinneret is a silk-spinning organ of a spider or the larva of an insect. Some adult insects also have spinnerets, such as those borne on the forelegs of Embioptera. Spinnerets are usually on the underside of a spider's opisthosoma, and are ...
. The thoracal and abdominal segments are weakly chitinised. The somewhat stronger chitinised pronotum is about twice as long as the meso- and metathorax. Thoracal legs are well-developed. Abdominal segments 1 to 7 are almost uniform, the eighth and ninth narrower, and the anal plate rounded. The four pairs of prolegs on abdominal segments 3 to 6 are well-developed, with a single, entire circle of crochets; half-grown larvae have 11 to 14 crochets, fully grown ones up to 25. The well-developed anal prolegs have an angularly curved frontal row of 11 crochets in falf-grown larvae and more in older ones.[
]
Pupae
The pupa is stout and slightly flattened.[ In '']Niphopyralis aurivillii
''Niphopyralis aurivillii'' is a moth in the grass moths family (Crambidae). It was described by Nils Victor Alarik Kemner in 1923. It is found in Indonesia (Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands ...
'', the pupa is 6 to 6.5 mm long and 2 mm broad, and of a light brown-yellow colour. The imago
In biology, the imago (Latin for "image") is the last stage an insect attains during its metamorphosis, its process of growth and development; it is also called the imaginal stage, the stage in which the insect attains maturity. It follows the f ...
emerges from a mouthlike cleft on one end of the cocoon.[
]
Imagines
Imagines of ''Niphopyralis'' exhibit an unusual, somewhat Limacodidae
The Limacodidae or Eucleidae are a family of moths in the superfamily Zygaenoidea or the Cossoidea;Scoble, M.J. (1992). ''The Lepidoptera: Form, Function and Diversity.'' Oxford University Press. the placement is in dispute. They are often ca ...
-like habitus. Furthermore, they lack a proboscis
A proboscis () is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular mouthparts used for feeding and sucking. In vertebrates, a proboscis is an elong ...
, have reduced palpi, and the males exhibit bipectinate antennae, a mix of characters that for a long time hindered their correct placement among 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 ...
(see Systematics
Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: cladograms, phylogenetic tre ...
).
The wingspan ranges from 12 to 22 mm, and the males being smaller than the females. The lower two thirds of the male antennae are bipectinate with ciliated teeth approximately as long as the antenna’s breadth. 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 large and rounded. A proboscis
A proboscis () is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular mouthparts used for feeding and sucking. In vertebrates, a proboscis is an elong ...
and 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 labial palps are small. The body and wings are whitish to cream, with the front wing upper side usually exhibiting a diffuse wing pattern, whereas the underside has a dark brown colour.
DNA sequence data
DNA barcode
DNA barcoding is a method of species identification using a short section of DNA from a specific gene or genes. The premise of DNA barcoding is that by comparison with a reference library of such DNA sections (also called "sequences"), an indiv ...
data for different, mostly unidentified species of ''Niphopyralis'' are stored in the Barcode of Life Data System
The Barcode of Life Data System (commonly known as BOLD or BOLDSystems) is a web platform specifically devoted to DNA barcoding. It is a cloud-based data storage and analysis platform developed at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics in Canada. It ...
(BOLD), although only part of the sequences are publicly accessible.
Behaviour
The caterpillar of ''Niphopyralis myrmecophila
''Niphopyralis myrmecophila'' is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Roepke in 1916. It is found in Indonesia (Java).
The wingspan
The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the ...
'' lives in a flat oval self-spun casing consisting of two slightly curved halves that fit precisely onto one another. The halves are only loosely spun together, so that they can be easily separated. The casing tissue is relatively coarse. The outside colour is a dirty white, the inner side is lighter. The casing of a fully-grown caterpillar measures 15 x 11 mm, and the caterpillar is fully concealed by it. The larval cases seem to lie loosely in the nests of their host ants.[ Caterpillars of '' N. aurivillii'' have also been observed to live freely in the nests, and only occasionally they are found on the nest ground, fixed by a loose weave of a few crossed threads. Fully-grown larvae are also found in pupal ant cocoons, where they feed on the ant pupa. However, for pupation they also spin a cocoon similar to that of '' N. myrmecophila''.][ The observations of Roepke (1916) on '' N. myrmecophila'' might therefore refer only to fully grown caterpillars, while the younger caterpillars potentially also live freely in the ant nests, but were not observed.
The caterpillars are fully tolerated in the nest, but are not cared for by the host ants. They actively participate in the maintenance of the ant nest by repairing and reinforcing walls with spinning thread. Small caterpillars live among eggs and small ant larvae on which they feed, as examinations of the gut contents have shown. Larger caterpillars are found among ant larvae and pupae. In cases where the ant colony is moving to a new nest, small caterpillars are carried passively to the new nest, but not actively by the ants, whereas large caterpillars remain in the old nest.][
The adult moths are diurnal. The flight is neither fast nor lengthy, and with rapid wing movement. After settling down, the moth usually walks a short distance, with its wings held horizontally and skewed backwards. In resting position, the wings are normally held vertically, covering the body from the sides, and 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 torso. ...
is raised to approximately 45°. Like the caterpillars and pupae, the adults are not attacked by the ants.[
]
Systematics
The genus currently comprises eight species:[
*'']Niphopyralis albida
''Niphopyralis albida'' is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by George Hampson in 1893. It is found in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்க ...
'' Hampson, 1893
*''Niphopyralis aurivillii
''Niphopyralis aurivillii'' is a moth in the grass moths family (Crambidae). It was described by Nils Victor Alarik Kemner in 1923. It is found in Indonesia (Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands ...
'' (Kemner, 1923)
*''Niphopyralis chionesis
''Niphopyralis chionesis'' is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by George Hampson in 1919. It is found in Australia, where it has been recorded from Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
The wingspan
The wi ...
'' Hampson, 1919
*'' Niphopyralis contaminata'' Hampson, 1893
*'' Niphopyralis discipunctalis'' Hampson, 1919
*''Niphopyralis myrmecophila
''Niphopyralis myrmecophila'' is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Roepke in 1916. It is found in Indonesia (Java).
The wingspan
The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the ...
'' (Roepke, 1916)
*'' Niphopyralis nivalis'' Hampson, 1893 – type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
of ''Niphopyralis''
*'' Niphopyralis suffidalis'' Swinhoe, 1895
The genus ''Niphopyralis'' was 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 1893, who placed it in the subfamily Pyraustinae
Pyraustinae is a large subfamily of the lepidopteran family Crambidae, the crambid snout moths. It currently includes over 1,400 species; most of them tropical but some found in temperate regions including both North America and Europe.
The Py ...
, but later transferred it to Schoenobiinae
Schoenobiinae is a subfamily of the lepidopteran family Crambidae. The subfamily was described by Philogène Auguste Joseph Duponchel in 1846.
Genera
*'' Adelpherupa'' Hampson, 1919 (= ''Limnopsares'' Meyrick, 1934, ''Schoenoploca ''Meyrick, 193 ...
. Twenty-three years later, in 1916, Walter Karl Johann Roepke Walter Karl Johann Roepke (18 September 1882, Kreis Hohensalza, Hohensalza – 7 February 1961, Wageningen) was a German entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera and Coleoptera.
Roepke was educated in the University of Berlin and the University ...
described ''Wurthia'' and erected the new subfamily Wurthiinae, which he placed in Arctiidae (now Arctiinae
The Arctiinae (formerly called the family Arctiidae) are a large and diverse subfamily of moths with around 11,000 species found all over the world, including 6,000 neotropical species.Scoble, MJ. (1995). ''The Lepidoptera: Form, Function and D ...
).
Kemner (1923) transferred ''Wurthia'' to Schoenobiinae
Schoenobiinae is a subfamily of the lepidopteran family Crambidae. The subfamily was described by Philogène Auguste Joseph Duponchel in 1846.
Genera
*'' Adelpherupa'' Hampson, 1919 (= ''Limnopsares'' Meyrick, 1934, ''Schoenoploca ''Meyrick, 193 ...
based on similarities to ''Niphopyralis''. Lewvanich (1981) removed ''Niphopyralis'' from Schoenobiinae and transferred it to Pyraustinae
Pyraustinae is a large subfamily of the lepidopteran family Crambidae, the crambid snout moths. It currently includes over 1,400 species; most of them tropical but some found in temperate regions including both North America and Europe.
The Py ...
, while ''Wurthia'' remained in Schoenobiinae. Common (1990), realising that ''Wurthia'' is misplaced in Schoenobiinae, re-established the subfamily Wurthiinae with this genus as the sole member. Eventually, in 1996, ''Wurthia'' was recognized as synonym of ''Niphopyralis''.
Recently, Regier et al. (2012) found ''Niphopyralis'' to be an ingroup of Spilomelinae, and they consequently synonymised the name Wurthiinae with Spilomelinae. Since 2019, the name Wurthiini is in use again as tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...
of Spilomelinae.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1942160
Spilomelinae
Taxa named by George Hampson