7 described species in 2 genera + 2 undescribed species
Acanthopteroctetidae is a small family of primitive moths with two described genera, Acanthopteroctetes and Catapterix, and a total of seven described species.[a] They are known as the archaic sun moths.
As of 2002, the Acanthopteroctetidae were classified as sole family in superfamilyAcanthopteroctetoidea and infraorderAcanthoctesia.[2] Based on more recent research, they may instead be included (alongside the Neopseustidae and the Aenigmatineidae) in superfamily Neopseustoidea.[1]: 675, 681
Morphology
Moths in this superfamily are usually small (but one is 15 mm. in wingspan) and iridescent. Like other "homoneurous" Coelolepida and non-ditrysianHeteroneura, the ocelli are lost. There are a variety of unique structural characteristics,[3] and are evolutionary distinctive.[4] The female adults of both Catapterix crimaea[5] and C. tianshanica[6] are unknown.
In addition, two taxa are known to exist but have so far not been formally described: one from the Andes in Peru,[3]: 54 [1]: 691 and one from China.[1]: 691
Taxonomy
Around the start of the century, they were considered the fifth group up on the comb of branching events in the extantlepidopteranphylogeny,[9]: 10 and also deemed to represent the most basal lineage in the lepidopteran group Coelolepida[10] (along with Lophocoronoidea and the massive group "Myoglossata") characterised in part by its scale morphology.[3]: 53–54
Research on the molecular phylogeny of the Lepidoptera since then has indicated a close relation between the Acanthopteroctetidae, the Neopseustidae and the Aenigmatineidae,[1]: 672–681 and the three may be considered part of a single superfamily Neopseustoidea rather than three separate, monobasic superfamilies.[1]: 681 Molecular data from the same research showed weak support for the clade Coelolepida, and weakly contradicted the placement of Acanthopteroctetidae as most basal lineage of the Coelolepida.[1]: 676
Genus Catapterix was originally described within its own family, Catapterigidae,[11][12] which is considered a junior synonym of Acanthopteroctidae,[13] with which it shares specialised structural features including similar wing morphology (in A. unifascia).[4]: 1255
Biology
Data on the species in Acanthopteroctetidae are scarce. Of the seven described species, only Acanthopteroctetes unifascia has a full description of the larval stage available.[1]: 691 [6] Other than a single record of a specimen tentatively identified as Acanthopteroctetes bimaculata,[1]: 691 the larvae of the remaining species in both genera are unknown.
Acanthopteroctetes unifascialarvae are leaf-miners on the shrub genus Ceanothus (Rhamnaceae).[3] They form blotch-shaped mines and overwinter as larva, after which feeding continues in spring.[1] Pupation occurs in a cocoon on the ground.[3] The adult moths emerge during spring and are diurnal.
As of September 2022[update], none of the species in Acanthopteroctetidae have been evaluated by the IUCN.[14]
Footnotes and references
^Two additional species, from respectively Peru and China, are known to exist but have yet to be formally described.[1]: 691
^ abcdefghijkRegier, Jerome C.; Mitter, Charles; Kristensen, Niels P.; Davis, Donald R.; Van Nieukerken, Erik J.; Rota, Jadranka; Simonsen, Thomas J.; Mitter, Kim T.; Kawahara, Akito Y.; Yen, Shen-Horn; Cummings, Michael P.; Zwick, Andreas (October 2015). "A molecular phylogeny for the oldest (nonditrysian) lineages of extant Lepidoptera, with implications for classification, comparative morphology and life-history evolution: Molecular phylogeny for nonditrysian Lepidoptera". Systematic Entomology. 40 (4). doi:10.1111/syen.12129. S2CID86213804.
^Sinev, S.Y. (1988). Systematic position of the Catapterigidae (Lepidoptera) and the problem of the naturalness of the group Heteroneura. Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie, 67: 602-614. In Russian [see Entomological Review (1990) 69: 1-14 for a translation].
^Zagulajev, A.K.; Sinev S.Y. (1988). Catapterigidae fam. n. - a new family of lower Lepidoptera (Lepidoptera, Dacnonypha). Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie, 68: 35-43. In Russian [see Entomological Review (1989) 68: 35-43 for a translation].
^De Prins, J.; De Prins, W. (2011–2021). "Catapterigidae". Afromoths, online database of Afrotropical moth species (Lepidoptera). Archived from the original on 2 June 2023. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
