| Dodia | |
|---|---|
| Dodia tarandus imago | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Arctiidae |
| Subfamily: | Arctiinae |
| Tribe: | Callimorphini |
| Genus: | Dodia Dyar, 1901 |
| Diversity | |
| At least 7 or 8 species (see text) | |
| Synonyms | |
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Dodia is a genus of woolly bear moths (family Arctiidae) found in subarctic tundra and taiga ecosystems. They belong to the tribe Callimorphini of subfamily Arctiinae.[1]
Like most of their closest relatives, they are mid-sized moths (a few cm/around 1 inch wingspan) which may be active all day, but avoid direct sunlight. Unlike many Callimorphini, they are inconspicuous, colored a somewhat translucent grey-brown and without bold markings; with the typical slender body shape of their subtribe, they resemble at a casual glance certain larentiine geometer moths (Geometridae), e.g. the Operophterini, rather than the more typical Callimorphini. Like in the former, flightless females are known to occur in Dodia.[2]
Long held to contain only 2 species, several others have been discovered and described since the 1980s. Consequently, it is quite possible that further ones await discovery. As of 2009, the known species are:[3]