Agathiphaga
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Suborder: Aglossata
Speidel, 1977
Superfamily: Agathiphagoidea
N. P. Kristensen, 1967
Family: Agathiphagidae
N. P. Kristensen, 1967
Genus: Agathiphaga
Dumbleton, 1952
Species

Agathiphaga is a genus of moths, known as kauri moths. and is the only living genus in the family Agathiphagidae. This caddisfly-like lineage of primitive moths was first reported by Lionel Jack Dumbleton in 1952, as a new genus of Micropterigidae.[1]

The caterpillars feed only on "kauri" (Agathis) and are currently considered the second most primitive living lineage of moths after Micropterigoidea.[2] The larvae have been reported to be able to survive for 12 years in diapause,[3] durability possibly a prerequisite to its possible dispersion around the Pacific islands in the seeds of Agathis.

Dumbleton described two species. Agathiphaga queenslandensis is found along the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia, and its larvae feed on Agathis robusta.[4] Agathiphaga vitiensis is found from Fiji to Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, and its larvae feed on Agathis vitiensis.

A fossil member of Agathiphagidae, Agathiphagama, is known from the Burmese amber of Myanmar, dating to the early Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, approximately 99 million years ago.[5]

References

  1. ^ Lionel Jack Dumbleton (1952). "A new genus of seed-infesting micropterygid moths" (PDF). Pacific Science. 6: 17–29.
  2. ^ N. P. Kristensen (1999). "The non-Glossatan moths". In N. P. Kristensen (ed.). Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies Volume 1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Handbook of Zoology. A Natural History of the phyla of the Animal Kingdom. Volume IV Arthropoda: Insecta Part 35. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 41–49.
  3. ^ M. S. Upton (1997). "A twelve-year larval diapause in the Queensland kauri moth, Agathiphaga queenslandiae Dumbleton (Lepidoptera: Agathiphagidae)". The Entomologist. 116: 142–143.
  4. ^ "Species Agathiphaga queenslandensis Dumbleton, 1952". Australian Faunal Directory. Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. October 9, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
  5. ^ Mey, Wolfram; Léger, Théo; Lien, Vu Van (2021-10-03). "New taxa of extant and fossil primitive moths in South-East Asia and their biogeographic significance (Lepidoptera, Micropterigidae, Agathiphagidae, Lophocoronidae)". Nota Lepidopterologica. 44(): 29–56. doi:10.3897/nl.44.52350. ISSN 2367-5365.

External links

Wikispecies has information related to Agathiphaga.


Arthropoda - Insecta - Superfamilies of Lepidoptera
Extant Lepidoptera families
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