Mnesarchaea

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Mnesarchaeoidea

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Suborder:	Glossata
Infraorder:	Exoporia
Superfamily:	Mnesarchaeoidea
Family:	Mnesarchaeidae
Genus:	Mnesarchaea Meyrick, 1886

Diversity

7 described species

Species

See text.

Mnesarchaeoidea is a superfamily of "New Zealand primitive moths" containing one family, Mnesarchaeidae and a single genus, Mnesarchaea, endemic to New Zealand.

1 Taxonomy and systematics
2 Morphology and identification
3 Biology and behaviour
4 Species
5 References
6 Sources
7 External Links

[edit] Taxonomy and systematics

Mnesarchaeoidea constitutes the living sister taxon to the superfamily Hepialoidea [1].

[edit] Morphology and identification

The mouthparts of the adult moths are functional, unlike Hepialoidea. About seven species are not yet described, and the group is under revision by Gibbs et al. (see also Gibbs, 1979; Dugdale, 1988).

[edit] Biology and behaviour

The moths are mostly day-flying. The larvae live in silken galleries among liverworts and soil detritus. See Kristensen (1999: 57-59) for more details.

[edit] Species

Mnesarchaea acuta Philpott, 1929
Mnesarchaea fallax Philpott, 1927
Mnesarchaea fusca Philpott, 1922
Mnesarchaea fusilella Walker, 1864 (originally in Tinea)
Mnesarchaea loxoscia Meyrick, 1888
Mnesarchaea hamadelpha Meyrick, 1888
- = Mnesarchaea similis Philpott, 1924[2]
Mnesarchaea paracosma Meyrick, 1886

[edit] References

Dugdale, J.S. (1988). Lepidoptera - annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa. Fauna of New Zealand, 14: 1-262.
Gibbs, G.W. (1979). Some notes on the biology and status of the Mnesarchaeidae (Lepidoptera). Ne Zealnd Journal of Entomology, 7: 2-9.
Kristensen, N.P. (1999) [1998]. The homoneurous Glossata. Ch. 5, pp. 51-64 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.
Nielsen, E.S., Robinson, G.S. and Wagner, D.L. 2000. Ghost-moths of the world: a global inventory and bibliography of the Exoporia (Mnesarchaeoidea and Hepialoidea) (Lepidoptera) Journal of Natural History, 34(6):