Lymantriinae

Painted pine moth Orgyia australis, copyright Buck Richardson.

Belongs within: Erebidae.

The Lymantriidae, the tussock moths, are a group of moths whose larvae often feed on trees; the name 'tussock moth' refers not to their feeding habits but to the 'tussocks' or dense tufts of urticating setae possessed by caterpillars of many species. The adults usually lack a proboscis and do not feed. They commonly rest with the wings flattened against the substrate to form a triangle and the fore legs extended forwards (Nielsen & Common 1991).

Characters (from Nielsen & Common 1991): Small to large; ocelli absent; antennae bipectinate to tip in male and usually in female, usually with one to three long terminal setae on each antennal branch; proboscis usually absent; maxillary palps 1-segmented or absent; epiphysis present in male, reduced or absent in female, tibial spurs short, 0-2-4, rarely 0-2-2; females sometimes brachypterous, flightless; fore wing often with areole, R₃ and R₄ stalked from discal cell or areole, 1A+2A simple; hind wing with Sc diverging from Rs at base but approximated to, and usually connected with, Rs by R₁ towards middle of discal cell, rarely fusing with Rs for short distance, Rs and M₁ usually stalked, M₂ arising nearer to M₃ than to M₁; thorax and abdomen densely hairy; abdomen with counter-tympanal hood prespiracular, abdominal segment 4 usually with pair of pockets, in female with dense anal tuft. Egg often hemispherical, rounded or subcylindrical, laid in cluster, usually covered in hair-scales from anal tuft. Larva with densely tufted secondary setae, often with four long dense dorsal tufts or with hair-pencils, a coloured dorsal gland on abdominal segment 6 and usually also on 7; external feeders, often arboreal. Pupa stout, hairy, in silken cocoon incorporating larval hairs.

<==Lymantriinae [Lymantriidae, Ocneriidae] ZK11
    |--Arctornis [Arctornithini] ZK11
    `--+--+--Leucoma [Leucomini] ZK11
       |  |    `--L. salicis ZK11
       |  `--Lymantria [Lymantriini] ZK11
       |       |--L. antennata ZS10
       |       |--L. dispar KP99
       |       |--L. dissoluta F92
       |       |--L. monacha V09
       |       `--L. reducta P27
       `--+--Nygmia [Nygmiini] ZK11
          |    |--N. phaeorrhoea F62 [=Lymantria phaeorrhoea F92]
          |    `--N. plana ZK11
          `--Orgyia [Orgyiini] ZK11
               |--O. anartoides C70
               |--O. antiqua D37
               |--O. athlophora C70
               |--O. australis P27
               |--O. ericae F92
               |--O. gonostigma F92
               |--O. media F92
               |--O. pseudotsugata KP99
               |--O. thyellina D37
               `--O. vetusta G05

Lymantriinae incertae sedis:
  Acyphas chionitis G84, P27
  Olene mendosa G84
  Leptocneria reducta NC91
  Iropoca rotundata NC91
  Icta fulviceps NC91
  Dura NC91
  Laelia P27
    |--L. obsoleta P27
    `--L. saturnioides Snellen 1879 M86
  Teia NC91
    |--T. anartoides NC91
    `--T. athlophora NC91
  Porthesia YS10
    |--P. chrysorrhoea YS10
    |--P. fimbriata P27
    |--P. lutea P27
    |--P. paradoxa C70
    `--P. similis F92 [=Euproctis similis RD77]
  Euproctis NC91
    |--E. chrysorrhoea B14
    |--E. conspersa S01
    |--E. cryptosticta F92
    |--E. edwardsii NC91
    |--E. flava F92
    |--E. flavociliata Swinhoe 1901 S01
    |--E. lucifuga NC91
    |--E. minor F92
    |--E. paradoxa NC91
    |--E. phaeorrhaea F92
    `--E. pseudoconspersa F92
  Ocneria F92
    |--O. detrita F92
    `--O. dispar F92
  Hemerocampa RD77
    |--H. pseudotsugae G05
    `--H. vetusta RD77

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B14] Bouchard, P. (ed.) 2014. The Book of Beetles: A lifesize guide to six hundred of nature's gems. Ivy Press: Lewes (United Kingdom).

[C70] Common, I. F. B. 1970. Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers pp. 765–866. Melbourne University Press.

[D37] Dobzhansky, T. 1937. Genetics and the Origin of Species. Columbia University Press: New York.

[F92] Fan Z. 1992. Key to the Common Flies of China 2^nd ed. Science Press: Beijing.

[F62] Flanders, S. E. 1962. Did the caterpillar exterminate the giant reptile? Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 1 (1): 85–88.

[G84] Gauld, I. D. 1984. An Introduction to the Ichneumonidae of Australia. British Museum (Natural History).

[G05] Grissell, E. E. 2005. A review of North American species of Microdontomerus Crawford (Torymidae: Hymenoptera). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 14 (1): 22–65.

[KP99] Kuzio, J., M. N. Pearson, S. H. Harwood, C. J. Funk, J. T. Evans, J. M. Slavicek & G. F. Rohrmann. 1999. Sequence and analysis of the genome of a baculovirus pathogenic for Lymantria dispar. Virology 253: 17–34.

[M86] Meyrick, E. 1886. On some Lepidoptera from the Fly River. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, series 2, 1 (2): 241–258.

[NC91] Nielsen, E. S., & I. F. B. Common. 1991. Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 2 pp. 817–915. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[P27] Philpott, A. 1927. The maxillae in the Lepidoptera. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 57: 721–746.

[RD77] Richards, O. W., & R. G. Davies. 1977. Imms' General Textbook of Entomology 10^th ed. vol. 2. Classification and Biology. Chapman and Hall: London.

[S01] Swinhoe, C. 1901. New genera and species of eastern and Australian moths. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 7, 7: 463–473.

[V09] Verdcourt, B. (ed.) 2009. Additions to the wild fauna and flora of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. XXVI. Miscellaneous records. Kew Bulletin 64 (1): 183–194.

[YS10] Yefremova, Z. A. & I. S. Strakhova. 2010. A review of the species of the genus Elasmus Westwood (Hymenoptera, Eulophidae) from Russia and neighboring countries. Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie 89 (3): 634–661.

[ZK11] Zahiri, R., I. J. Kitching, J. D. Lafontaine, M. Mutanen, L. Kaila, J. D. Holloway & N. Wahlberg. 2011. A new molecular phylogeny offers hope for a stable family level classification of the Noctuoidea (Lepidoptera). Zoologica Scripta 40 (2): 158–173.

[ZS10] Zborowski, P., & R. Storey. 2010. A Field Guide to Insects in Australia 3^rd ed. Reed New Holland: Sydney.

Last updated: 21 February 2021.