The

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

Papilionoidea (from the genus '' Papilio'', meaning "butterfly") contains all the

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises ...

except for the moth-like Hedyloidea. The members of the Papilionoidea may be distinguished by the following combination of characters: *The body is smaller and less moth-like. *The wings are larger. *The

antenna Antenna ( antennas or antennae) may refer to: Science and engineering * Antenna (radio), also known as an aerial, a transducer designed to transmit or receive electromagnetic (e.g., TV or radio) waves * Antennae Galaxies, the name of two collid ...

e are straight and clubbed or hooked as in the skippers. *The

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sy ...

s do not spin cocoons in which to

pupa A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in thei ...

te. *The pupae are angular rather than rounded. Recent

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups ...

analyses suggest the traditionally circumscribed Papilionoidea are a

paraphyletic In taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In ...

group, and that skippers (family

Hesperiidae Skippers are a family of the Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) named the Hesperiidae. Being diurnal, they are generally called butterflies. They were previously placed in a separate superfamily, Hesperioidea; however, the most recent taxonomy ...

) and Neotropical moth-like butterflies (family

Hedylidae Hedylidae, the "American moth-butterflies", is a family of insects in the order Lepidoptera, representing the superfamily Hedyloidea. They have traditionally been viewed as an extant sister group of the butterfly superfamily Papilionoidea. In 19 ...

) are true butterflies that should be included within the Papilionoidea superfamily to reflect

cladistic Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived char ...

relationships.

Families of Papilionoidea

The six well-supported families of Papilionoidea are: *

(skippers) * Swallowtails and

birdwing Birdwings are butterflies in the swallowtail family, that belong to the genera ''Trogonoptera'', ''Troides'', and ''Ornithoptera''. Most recent authorities recognise 36 species, however, this is debated, and some authorities include additiona ...

Papilionidae Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies in the family Papilionidae, and include over 550 species. Though the majority are tropical, members of the family inhabit every continent except Antarctica. The family includes the larg ...

*Whites or yellow-whites,

Pieridae The Pieridae are a large family of butterflies with about 76 genera containing about 1,100 species, mostly from tropical Africa and tropical Asia with some varieties in the more northern regions of North America and Eurasia.DeVries P. J. in L ...

*Blues and coppers or gossamer-winged butterflies,

Lycaenidae Lycaenidae is the second-largest family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of the known butterf ...

*Metalmark butterflies,

Riodinidae Riodinidae is the family of metalmark butterflies. The common name "metalmarks" refers to the small, metallic-looking spots commonly found on their wings. The 1532 species are placed in 146 genera. Although mostly Neotropical in distribution, t ...

* Brush-footed butterflies,

Nymphalidae The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species have a red ...

which contain the following 13 subfamilies: ** The snout butterflies or Libytheinae (formerly the family Libytheidae) ** The danaids or Danainae (formerly the family Danaidae) ** The

Tellervinae Tellervini is a tribe of danaid butterflies with only the one genus ''Tellervo'', with six widely distributed species found in the Australasian realm and the Indomalayan realm (also called the ''Oriental region''). The taxon is apparently monoph ...

** The glasswings or Ithomiinae ** The

Calinaginae ''Calinaga'' is the sole genus of the monotypic nymphalid butterfly subfamily Calinaginae. Its species occur in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The evolutionary history of ''Calinaga'' remains a mystery until today. Recent research indicated that ...

** The morphos and owls or Morphinae (including the owls as tribe Brassolini) ** The browns or

Satyrinae The Satyrinae, the satyrines or satyrids, commonly known as the browns, are a subfamily of the Nymphalidae (brush-footed butterflies). They were formerly considered a distinct family, Satyridae. This group contains nearly half of the known diver ...

(formerly the family Satyridae) ** The

Charaxinae __NOTOC__ The Charaxinae, the leafwings, are a nymphalid subfamily of butterflies that includes about 400 species, inhabiting mainly the tropics, although some species extend into temperate regions in North America, Europe, China, and southern ...

(preponas and leaf butterflies) ** The Biblidinae ** The Apaturinae ** The nymphs or

Nymphalinae The Nymphalinae are a subfamily of brush-footed butterflies (family Nymphalidae). Sometimes, the subfamilies Limenitidinae, and Biblidinae are included here as subordinate tribe(s), while the tribe Melitaeini is occasionally regarded as a distin ...

** The Limenitidinae (especially the adelphas) ** The tropical longwings or Heliconiinae Of the subfamilies of Nymphalidae, only the Morphinae and Satyrinae are possibly paraphyletic, but these two subfamilies form a strongly supported clade with the Charaxinae as sister group.Gerardo Lamas (2008) Systematics of butterflies (Lepidoptera: Hesperioidea and Papilionoidea) in the world: current state and future perspectives (in Spanish). In: Jorge Llorente-Bousquets and Analía Lanteri (eds.) ''Contribuiciones taxonómicas en ordens de insectos hiperdiversos''. Mexico City: UNAM. Pp. 57-70. The

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

genus '' Lithopsyche'' is apparently a Papilionoidea ''

incertae sedis ' () or ''problematica'' is a term used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertain ...

'', which has long been mistaken for a

geometer moth The geometer moths are moths belonging to the family Geometridae of the insect order Lepidoptera, the moths and butterflies. Their scientific name derives from the Ancient Greek ''geo'' γεω (derivative form of or "the earth"), and ''metro ...

of the

Boarmiini The Boarmiini (also often called ''Cleorini'') are a large tribe of geometer moths in the Ennominae subfamily. Description and systematics This family is sometimes massively expanded, with the closely related Bistonini, Bupalini, Erannini, ...

. It is variously placed in the Lycaenidae or Riodinidae. A similar fossil, '' Lithodryas'', is more firmly assigned to the Lycaenidae, but might belong to the Nymphalidae. '' Riodinella'', yet another prehistoric genus, also seems to belong here, but its relationships are quite obscure, indeed. However, these fossils – all found in

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', ...

deposits dating roughly between 50 and 25 million years ago – suggest the radiation of the Papilionoidea into the present-day families took place during that epoch. ''

Prodryas ''Prodryas persephone'' is an extinct species of brush-footed butterfly, known from a single specimen from the Chadronian-aged Florissant Shale Lagerstatte of Late Eocene Colorado. ''P. persephone'' is the first fossil butterfly to be found in ...

'', from the end of the Eocene, can be quite robustly assigned to the Nymphalidae, and is quite likely a member of the Nymphalini.

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but t ...

fossils of Papilionoidea are usually assignable to an extant family without problems. Taken together, these fossils place the origin of the Papilionoidea in the latest

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...

or early

Paleogene The Paleogene ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning o ...

, while the extant families emerged around the early Eocene onwards.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q756153 Butterflies Lepidoptera superfamilies Taxa named by Pierre André Latreille Obtectomera pl:Motyle dzienne