''Phymatopus'' (originally: ''Noctua'' Linnaeus, 1758) 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 ...

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 ...

s of the family

Hepialidae The Hepialidae are a family of insects in the lepidopteran order. Moths of this family are often referred to as swift moths or ghost moths. Taxonomy and systematics The Hepialidae constitute by far the most diverse group of the infraorder Exopo ...

(commonly referred to as swift moths or ghost moths), which consists of around 500 species and 30 genera. The genus was erected by

Hans Daniel Johan Wallengren Hans Daniel Johan Wallengren (8 June 1823 – 25 October 1894) was a Swedish clergyman and entomologist. Biography He was born in Lund, Sweden. Wallengren became a student at Lund University from 1842, was ordained a priest in 1847 and was ap ...

in 1869. They can be found across Eurasia and North America. Species can be distinguished by the different morphology of male

genitalia A sex organ (or reproductive organ) is any part of an animal or plant that is involved in sexual reproduction. The reproductive organs together constitute the reproductive system. In animals, the testis in the male, and the ovary in the female, a ...

and different

forewing 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 hindwin ...

patterns, which vary in stripe colour and size and arrangement of spots. The stripes themselves consist of spots separated by dark veins which are fringed by thin black lines from both inner and outer sides.

Species

*''

Phymatopus hecta The gold swift (''Phymatopus hecta'') is a moth belonging to the family Hepialidae. Until recently it was placed in the genus ''Hepialus''. The species was Species description, first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema ...

'' (gold swift) - Europe :*Food plant: ''

Pteridium Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produce sex cells (eg ...

'', but many others are named in the European literature *''

Phymatopus japonicus ''Phymatopus japonicus'' is a species of moth belonging to the family Hepialidae. It was described by Inoue in 1982, and is known from Japan, from which its species epithet is derived. The food plant for this species is ''Pteridium Bracken ...

'' -

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

:*Food plant: ''

'' *''

Phymatopus hectica ''Phymatopus hectica'' is a species of moth belonging to the family Hepialidae. It was described by Otto Bang-Haas in 1927, and is known from Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning East ...

'' - eastern

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

''Phymatopus'' auctt. nec Wallengren, 1869 *''

Phymatopus behrensii ''Phymatopus behrensii'' is a species of moth belonging to the family Hepialidae. It was described by Stretch in 1872, and is known from the United States, including California and Washington. The wingspan is about 43 mm. Recorded food pla ...

'' - United States :*Recorded food plants: ''

Helenium ''Helenium'' is a genus of annuals and herbaceous perennial plants in the family Asteraceae, native to the Americas. They bear yellow or orange daisy-like composite flowers. A number of these species (particularly ''Helenium autumnale'') have ...

'', ''

Lupinus ''Lupinus'', commonly known as lupin, lupine, or regionally bluebonnet etc., is a genus of plants in the legume family Fabaceae. The genus includes over 199 species, with centers of diversity in North and South America. Smaller centers occur ...

'', ''

Malus ''Malus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 30–55 species of small deciduous trees or shrubs in the family Rosaceae, including the domesticated orchard apple, crab apples, wild apples, and rainberries. The genus is native to the temperate zone of th ...

'', various

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except t ...

s *''

Phymatopus californicus ''Phymatopus californicus'', the lupine ghost moth, is a species of moth belonging to the family Hepialidae. It was described by Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1868 and is known from the US state of California. The wingspan is about 40 mm. Rec ...

'' - United States :*Recorded food plants: ''

Baccharis ''Baccharis'' is a genus of perennials and shrubs in the aster family (Asteraceae). They are commonly known as baccharises but sometimes referred to as "brooms", because many members have small thin leaves resembling the true brooms. They are n ...

'', ''

Eriophyllum ''Eriophyllum'', commonly known as the woolly sunflower, is a North American genus of plants in the family Asteraceae. The genus is native to western North America (USA, Canada, northwestern Mexico), with a concentration of narrow endemics in Cal ...

'' *''

Phymatopus hectoides ''Phymatopus hectoides'' is a species of moth belonging to the family Hepialidae. It was described by Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1868, and is known from the western United States, including California, Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. The wingspan is ...

'' - United States :*Recorded food plants: ''

'', ''

Horkelia :''See also '' Horkeliella'' (false horkelias).'' ''Horkelia'' is a genus of plants in the rose family. It includes several species of plants known commonly as horkelias. These are flowering plants closely related to the cinquefoils (''Potentill ...

'', ''

Scrophularia The genus ''Scrophularia'' of the family Scrophulariaceae comprises about 200 species of herbaceous flowering plants commonly known as figworts. Species of ''Scrophularia'' all share square stems, opposite leaves and open two-lipped flowers for ...

Description

The genus ''Phymatopus'' is considered

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 "unispec ...

and species can be distinguished by forewing pattern and male genitalia. ''Phymatopus'' lack spurs on the

tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...

e and like other members of the ''Hepialidae'', also 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 ...

frenulum A frenulum (or frenum, plural: frenula or frena, from the Latin ''frēnulum'', "little bridle", the diminutive of ''frēnum'') is a small fold of tissue that secures the motion of a mobile organ in the body. In human anatomy Frenula on the h ...

and have very short antennae.

Gold swift

The

gold swift The gold swift (''Phymatopus hecta'') is a moth belonging to the family Hepialidae. Until recently it was placed in the genus '' Hepialus''. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. Moths ...

(''Phymatopus hectus''), originally belonging to the genus ''

Hepialus The ghost moth or ghost swift (''Hepialus humuli'') is a moth of the family Hepialidae. It is common throughout Europe, except for in the far south-east. Female ghost moths are larger than males, and exhibit sexual dimorphism with their differ ...

'', is widely distributed across Europe (central and northern) and the

Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

, follows the distribution of its food plant -

bracken Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produce sex cells (eggs ...

and roots of ''

Erica Erica or ERICA may refer to: * Erica (given name) * ''Erica'' (plant), a flowering plant genus * Erica (chatbot), a service of Bank of America * ''Erica'' (video game), a 2019 FMV video game * ''Erica'' (spider), a jumping spider genus * Eric ...

'',

Primula ''Primula'' () is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. They include the primrose ('' P. vulgaris''), a familiar wildflower of banks and verges. Other common species are '' P. auricula'' (auricula), '' P. veris'' (cow ...

, ''

Rumex The docks and sorrels, genus ''Rumex'', are a genus of about 200 species of annual, biennial, and perennial herbs in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae. Members of this genus are very common perennial herbs with a native almost worldwide distribu ...

'', ''

Calluna ''Calluna vulgaris'', common heather, ling, or simply heather, is the sole species in the genus ''Calluna'' in the flowering plant family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing evergreen shrub growing to tall, or rarely to and taller, and is found wide ...

''. The male forewings bear two silvery white stripes consisting of individual spots separated by dark

vein Veins are blood vessels in humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are the pulmonary and umbilical veins, both of which carry oxygenated b ...

s, which are fringed with thin black lines. The

dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage * Dorsal co ...

process A process is a series or set of activities that interact to produce a result; it may occur once-only or be recurrent or periodic. Things called a process include: Business and management *Business process, activities that produce a specific se ...

of valvella (part of male

) is almost straight, and the

mesosome Mesosomes or chondrioids are folded invaginations in the plasma membrane of bacteria that are produced by the chemical fixation techniques used to prepare samples for electron microscopy. Although several functions were proposed for these struc ...

tip is rounded.

''Phymatopus hecta japonicus''

''Phymatopus hecta japonicus'' is found located in the Russian Far East:

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh: ...

island and southern

Kurils The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands (; rus, Кури́льские острова́, r=Kuril'skiye ostrova, p=kʊˈrʲilʲskʲɪjə ɐstrɐˈva; Japanese: or ) are a volcanic archipelago currently administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the ...

; south of the Daisetsu mountains,

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

, Japan. Its appearance is similar to ''P. hectus'' but differs in that the outer strip is usually uninterrupted. It consists of four or five silvery spots at the apex (anterior corner), two or three small spots moving slightly more inward and the largest one at the inner margin. The

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines * Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts * Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...

of the male genitalia is also different from that of ''P. hectus'', the

ventral Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek language, Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. Th ...

process of valvella is belt like, which tapers to a point as it reaches the distal quarter, the dorsal margin of valva is

convex Convex or convexity may refer to: Science and technology * Convex lens, in optics Mathematics * Convex set, containing the whole line segment that joins points ** Convex polygon, a polygon which encloses a convex set of points ** Convex polytope ...

. ''P. japonicus'' from Sakhalin has a maximum male

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

of 25–26 mm and shows pale or greyish brown colouring on the forewings, whereas the male specimens from Kurilan tend to have a larger

of 30–31 mm, bright, reddish brown. The male genitalia also differs between specimens of Kurilian population and from Sakhalin, with Kurilian males having shorter

s and a rounded tip of valva distal projection, as opposed to a tapering tip in Sakhalin males.

''Phymatopus hecticus''

''Phymatopus hecticus'' is found in eastern

. The forewing stripes are usually composed of golden-yellow or whitish coloured confluent spots without

metallic Metallic may be a reference to: *Metal * Metalloid, metal-like substance *Metallic bonding, type of chemical bonding * Metallicity, in astronomy the proportion of elements other than helium and hydrogen in an object *Metallic color, a color that ...

lustre. In male genitalia, the

of valvella is strongly curved in the distal part, giving it a hook-like appearance; there is also a clear cavity at the tip of the

''Phymatopus hecticus albomaculatus''

''Phymatopus hecticus albomaculatus'' is found in eastern Russia, north of Primorskii krai. Both forewing stripes have a silvery-white appearance, with a metallic tinge, similar to '' Phymatopus hectus'' and '' Phymatopus haponicus'', also consisting of separated spots. However, they have differences in male genitalia; the shape of the eighth abdominal

sternum The sternum or breastbone is a long flat bone located in the central part of the chest. It connects to the ribs via cartilage and forms the front of the rib cage, thus helping to protect the heart, lungs, and major blood vessels from injury. Sh ...

and tip of

. The length of forewing is about 14 mm in males, with a curved inner strip. The outer strip consists of three separated spots at the apex and two smaller spots moving inwards.

Range

Western Asia, North America - north of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, central and northern Europe. The Eurasian range consists solely of ''Phymatopus hectus'', and in North America the genus is represented by three species, which are geographically restricted to the western coastal region of the United States.

Life cycle

Larva

''Phymatopus'' are

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...

and stem borers. It is not uncommon for the larvae to tunnel through the stems, as is the case of the western North American ''Phymatopus''. Tunnels can be found travelling through the base of the stems and also the adjacent stems in contact with

leaf A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...

litter Litter consists of waste products that have been discarded incorrectly, without consent, at an unsuitable location. Litter can also be used as a verb; to litter means to drop and leave objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, paper cups, ...

and

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former te ...

. Sometimes dead stems can also serve to provide tunnels which are active. As well as tunnelling through stems, some larvae (e.g. ''P. hectoides'') tunnel through the soil and feed on root tissues.

Pupa

In the pupae, one or two fixed basal abdominal segments. On the abdominal segments, there are dorsal spines aligned in rows, similar to some lower members of the Heteroneura.

Adult

Meiosis

As in other lepidopterans, early

prophase Prophase () is the first stage of cell division in both mitosis and meiosis. Beginning after interphase, DNA has already been replicated when the cell enters prophase. The main occurrences in prophase are the condensation of the chromatin retic ...

I stage of

meiosis Meiosis (; , since it is a reductional division) is a special type of cell division of germ cells in sexually-reproducing organisms that produces the gametes, such as sperm or egg cells. It involves two rounds of division that ultimately resu ...

occurs as normal, but there is no crossing over or chiasma formation in the females at the prophase I stage. The males on the other hand show conventional

meiotic recombination Genetic recombination (also known as genetic reshuffling) is the exchange of genetic material between different organisms which leads to production of offspring with combinations of traits that differ from those found in either parent. In eukaryo ...

Mating

In many hepialids, the female releases attractants to draw in males. This is the

ancestral An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from whom ...

condition whereas in ''Phymatopus'', the opposite occurs, with males attracting females. See also

Gold swift The gold swift (''Phymatopus hecta'') is a moth belonging to the family Hepialidae. Until recently it was placed in the genus '' Hepialus''. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. Moths ...

Host plants and food plants

Host plant: *''Pteridium'' (

) Food plants: *Brooms (''

'') *''

'' *Figworts (''

'') *Woolly sunflower (''

'') *Sneezeweed (''

'') *Lupins/ lupines (''

'') *Apple trees (''

'') :*Roots of: *''Erica'' (

heaths A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

) *''

'' *Docks and sorrels (''

'') *Common heather / ling (''

'')

Mobility

Mobility is defined as the ability to migrate. According to the

metapopulation A metapopulation consists of a group of spatially separated populations of the same species which interact at some level. The term metapopulation was coined by Richard Levins in 1969 to describe a model of population dynamics of insect pests in ...

theory, migration is important for individuals to colonize new areas and recolonize old ones to avoid

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

. Moths, like other insects, are only mobile in the larval and

adult An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of major ...

stages. Mobility at the larval stage is limited and required mainly to find food and an

optimal Mathematical optimization (alternatively spelled ''optimisation'') or mathematical programming is the selection of a best element, with regard to some criterion, from some set of available alternatives. It is generally divided into two subfi ...

environment to

pupate A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

. According to van der Meulen and Groenendijk's classification, ''Phymatopus'' exhibit area restricted, limited wandering behaviour and small flight range.

References

External links

Hepialidae genera
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1944694 Hepialidae Exoporia genera Taxa named by Hans Daniel Johan Wallengren