Overview
Noctuoidea is the of noctuid (Latin "night owl") or "owlet" moths, and has the largest number of species described for any Lepidopteran superfamily. Its classification has not yet reached a satisfactory or stable state. See Kitching and Rawlins (1999) for a broad review, and this reference is the source of the classification used here. The most recent classifications include only four families in the superfamily; Noctuidae, Oenosandridae, Doidae, and Notodontidae. The remaining four families listed here are presently all considered subfamilies within Noctuidae.
Photos
Taxonomy
The Superfamily Noctuoidea is further organized into finer groupings including:
- Family (6): Arctiidae · Dioptidae · Lymantriidae · Noctuidae · Notodontidae · Thyretidae
Families
Arctiidae
Arctiidae is a large and diverse family of with around 11,000 species found all over the world, including 6,000 neotropical species. This family includes the groups commonly known as tiger moths (or tigers), which usually have bright colors, footmen (which are usually much drabber), lichen moths and wasp moths. Many species have 'hairy' caterpillars which are popularly known as woolly bears or woolly worms. The scientific name refers to this (Gk. a??t?? = a bear). Caterpillars may also go by the name 'tussock moths' (more usually this refers to Lymantriidae, however). [more]
Dioptidae
Lymantriidae
Lymantriidae or Liparidaeverification needed] is a family of moths with about 350 known genera and over 2,500 known species found all over the world, in every continent except Antarctica. They are particularly concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, India, Southeast Asia and South America; one estimate lists 258 species in Madagascar alone (Schaefer, 1989). Apart from oceanic islands, notable places that do not host Lymantriids include New Zealand, the Antilles, and New Caledonia (Schaefer , 1989). [more]
Noctuidae
The Noctuidae or Owlet moths are a family of robustly-built that includes more than 35,000 known species out of possibly 100,000 total, in more than 4,200 genera. They constitute the largest family in the Lepidoptera. [more]
Notodontidae
Notodontidae is a family of with approximately 3,500 known species. Moths of this family are found in all parts of the world, but they are most concentrated in tropical areas, especially in the New World (Miller, 1992). The Thaumetopoeidae (processionary moths) are sometimes included here as a subfamily. [more]
Thyretidae
More info about the Family Thyretidae may be found here.
References
- Firefly Encyclopedia of Insects and Spiders, edited by Christopher O'Toole, ISBN 1-55297-612-2, 2002
Sources
- The text on this page is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It includes material from Wikipedia retrieved Thursday, August 13, 2009.
- Photographs on this page are copyrighted by individual photographers, and individual copyrights apply.
- The GMapImageCutter is used under license from the UCL Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis.
- The technology underlying this page, including the Image Browser and controls behind Keep Exploring, is owned by the BayScience Foundation. All rights are reserved.