Apatelodidae, the American silkworm moths, is a
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
of
insect
Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...
s in the
order Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...
. They are a family within the
superfamily Bombycoidea
Bombycoidea is a superfamily of moths, including the silk moths, giant silk moths, sphinx moths, saturniids, and relatives. The superfamily Lasiocampoidea is a close relative and was historically sometimes merged in this group. After many ...
,
though they have in the past been considered a subfamily of
Bombycidae.
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 tropics, tropical Ecoregion#Terrestrial, terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperat ...
.
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
Bombycidae 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
Bombycidae, alongside Phiditiinae and Epiinae. Recent revisions of the taxonomy of
Bombycoidea
Bombycoidea is a superfamily of moths, including the silk moths, giant silk moths, sphinx moths, saturniids, and relatives. The superfamily Lasiocampoidea is a close relative and was historically sometimes merged in this group. After many ...
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'' and ''
Quentalia''—were transferred to Epiinae.
A major reclassification has been proposed, in a 2024 molecular revision, primarily due to findings suggesting that most of the existing genera were not monophyletic, and proposing the addition of 16 new genera.
[Orlandin Elton, Piovesan Mônica, Carneiro Eduardo (2024) Systematics of Apatelodidae Neumoegen & Dyar, 1894 (Lepidoptera: Bombycoidea) based on molecular and morphological data. Invertebrate Systematics 38, IS24041. DOI: 10.1071/IS24041]
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''
Walker, 1855
*''
Thelosia''
Schaus, 1896
*''
Thyrioclostera''
Draudt, 1929
*''
Zanola
''Zanola'' is a genus of moths in the family Apatelodidae.
Species
Kitching et al. 2018 lists the following species for the genus:
* ''Zanola aegina'' (Stoll, 1782)
* ''Zanola elongata'' Schaus, 1910
* ''Zanola fieldi'' Schaus, 1910
* ''Zanola i ...
''
Walker, 1855
References
External links
ACG Page of images of Apatelodidae from Area de Conservación Guanacaste,
Costa Rica
Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3620570
Moth families