Callidulidae

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Callidulidae

A callidulid moth Tetragonus sp. laying eggs on a fern.

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Infraorder:	Heteroneura
(unranked)	Ditrysia
Superfamily:	Calliduloidea
Family:	Callidulidae

Diversity

About 60 species

Subfamilies and genera

Pterothysaninae

Helicomitra
- =Caloschemia
Pterothysanus
- =Anengya

Griveaudiinae

Griveaudia

Callidulinae

Callidula
- =Petavia
- =Datanga
Cleis
Comella
Pterodecta
Tetragonus
- =Agonis

Callidulidae is the family of "Old World butterfly-moths", containing eight genera. They have a peculiar distribution, restricted to the Old World tropics of South East Asia to Australasia and Madagascar. The three subfamilies exhibit both day-flying and night-flying behaviour.

The mainly day-flying Callidulinae can be distinguished by their resting posture, which is the most butterfly-like, with the wings held closely over the back. Resembling the butterfly family Lycaenidae, these moths can be told apart by their antennae which taper to a point or may be very subtly clubbed. The more often night-flying Pterothysaninae and Griveaudiinae have a different adult resting posture (the latter roof-like in repose) and these were not placed within the Callidulidae until recently.^[1]

Biology of most subfamilies and species. is poorly known. Eggs are very flat in Griveaudiinae and Callidulinae, and caterpillars of Callidulinae are green with a shiny black head and have only been reported from ferns[1] in which they live in a leaf roll in which they eat and pupate, while the pupa of Helicomitra appears to be subterranean.^[2]

The closest relatives of Callidulidae are not known, but they are currently placed in a group that includes the three butterfly superfamilies, the "hook-tip moths" Drepanoidea and the "geometer moths" Geometroidea and also possibly Axioidea which share some structural characteristics.^[3]

[edit] Cited references

^ Minet, J. (1986). Ébauche d'une classification moderne de l'ordre des Lépidoptères. Alexanor 14(7): 291-313.
^ Minet, J. (1987). Description d'une chrysalide de Pterothysaninae (Lep. Callidulidae). Nouvelle Revue d'Entomologie (N.S.) 4(3): 312.
^ Minet, J. (1999 [1988]). The Axioidea and Calliduloidea. Ch. 16, pp. 257-261 in Kristensen, N.P. (Ed.). Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies. Volume 1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Handbuch der Zoologie. Eine Naturgeschichte der Stämme des Tierreiches / Handbook of Zoology. A Natural History of the phyla of the Animal Kingdom. Band / Volume IV Arthropoda: Insecta Teilband / Part 35: 491 pp. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York.

[edit] Other references

Minet, J. (1990 [1989]). Nouvelles frontières, géographiques et taxonomiques, pur la famille des Callidulidae (Lepidoptera, Calliduloidea). Nouvelle Revue d'Entomologie (N.S.) 6(4): 351-368.
Maddison, David R. 2003. Callidulidae. [2] in The Tree of Life Web Project, [3] Accessed October 2006
O'Toole, Christopher (Ed.) (2002) Firefly Encyclopedia of Insects and Spiders. ISBN 1-55297-612-2