Pterophoridae

Triangle plume Platyptilia gonodactyla, copyright Ilia Ustyantsev.

Belongs within: Obtectomera.

The Pterophoridae, plume moths, are a group of small moths in which the hind wings are usually deeply cleft into three plumes.

Characters (from Nielsen & Common 1991): Small; head usually smooth-scaled; ocelli and chaetosemata absent; antennae filiform; proboscis unsealed; maxillary palps minute, one-segmented; labial palps slender or stout, porrect or upturned; legs long, slender; epiphysis present; spurs 0-2-4, prominent; hind tibiae sometimes with specialised scaling; fore wing divided by terminal clefts into two or three plumes, rarely four plumes, or entire; with complex wing-folding mechanism, pterostigma sometimes present, wing-locking microtrichia absent, chorda and M absent in cell, one branch of R often absent, M₁ and M₂ weak or absent, CuP usually present, 1A+2A without fork; hind wing deeply cleft into three plumes, rarely entire, underside with double series of specialised scales along M3 and CuA₂ or CuA₁, CuP absent, female frenulum of one or two bristles; abdomen long and slender, tympanal organs absent. Eggs of flat type, oval, smooth. Larva usually with numerous secondary, often modified setae, sometimes on verrucae, prothorax with 3 L setae, ventral prolegs long, crochets uniordinal in mesoseries or mesal penellipse; larvae usually leaf-mining at first, later exposed, eroding surface of leaves or burrowing in flower buds or in stems. Pupa slender, smooth or spined, often with numerous setae on head, thorax and abdomen, pilifers present; fully exposed, attached by hooked setae on underside of abdominal segments 9 and 10.

<==Pterophoridae
    |  i. s.: Exelastis atomosa B88
    |         Buckleria paludum RD77
    |--Agdistinae NC91
    |    |--Ochyrotica kurandica NC91
    |    |--Agdistopis halieutica NC91
    |    `--Agdistis staticis RD77
    |--Pterophorinae KP19
    |    |--Lantanophaga pusillidactyla KP19
    |    `--+--Emmelina monodactyla KP19
    |       `--Pterophorus KP19
    |            |--P. aptalis NC91
    |            |--P. didactylus L02
    |            |--P. oligocenicus Bigot et al. 1986 RJ93
    |            |--P. pentadactyla KP19 [=Aciptilia pentadactyla H04]
    |            `--P. rhododactylus [=Cnaemidophorus rhododactylus] H04
    `--Platyptilinae NC91
         |--Cosmoclostis aglaodesma NC91, ZS10
         |--Stangeia xerodes NC91
         |--Stenoptilia NC91
         |    |--S. lithoxesta P27
         |    `--S. zophodactyla NC91
         |--Sphenarches C70
         |    |--S. anisodactylus NC91
         |    `--S. caffer P27
         |--Trichoptilus C70
         |    |--T. adelphodes P27
         |    `--T. wahlbergi C70
         `--Platyptilia NC91
              |--P. acanthodactyla M38
              |--P. aeolodes L27
              |--P. falcatalis P27
              |--P. gonodactyla P01
              `--P. omissalis NC91

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B88] Bouček, Z. 1988. Australasian Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera): A biosystematic revision of genera of fourteen families, with a reclassification of species. CAB International: Wallingford (UK).

[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.

[H04] Haeckel, E. 1899–1904. Kunstformen der Natur. Bibliographisches Institut: Leipzig und Wien.

[KP19] Kawahara, A. Y., D. Plotkin, M. Espeland, K. Meusemann, E. F. A. Toussaint, A. Donath, F. Gimnich, P. B. Frandsen, A. Zwick, M. dos Reis, J. R. Barber, R. S. Peters, S. Liu, X. Zhou, C. Mayer, L. Podsiadlowski, C. Storer, J. E. Yack, B. Misof & J. W. Breinholt. 2019. Phylogenomics reveals the evolutionary timing and pattern of butterflies and moths. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 116 (45): 22657–22663.

[L02] Latreille, P. A. 1802. Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière des crustacés et des insectes vol. 3. Familles naturelles des genres. F. Dufart: Paris.

[L27] Lindsay, S. 1927. A list of the Lepidoptera of Deans Bush, Riccarton, Canterbury. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 57: 693–696.

[M38] Muesebeck, C. F. W. 1938. Three new reared species of Apanteles from California (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 40 (7): 201–204.

[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).

[P01] Pável, J. 1901. Lepkék [Lepidopteren]. In: Horváth, G. (ed.) Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazása [Dritte Asiatische Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] vol. 2. Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazásának Állattani Eredményei [Zoologische Ergebnisse der Dritten Asiatischen Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] pp. 171–177. Victor Hornyánszky: Budapest, and Karl W. Hierseman: Leipzig.

[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.

[RJ93] Ross, A. J., & E. A. Jarzembowski. 1993. Arthropoda (Hexapoda; Insecta). In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 363–426. Chapman & Hall: London.

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