Acanthopteroctetidae is a small

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

of primitive

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of ...

s with two described

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial ...

, ''Acanthopteroctetes'' and ''

Catapterix ''Catapterix'' is a small genus of moths in the family Acanthopteroctetidae, with species occurring in Europe and Central Asia. The genus was previously considered monotypic, with ''Catapterix crimaea'' as its sole known species, until the formal ...

'', and a total of seven described

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

. They are known as the archaic sun moths. As of 2002, the Acanthopteroctetidae were classified as sole family in

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 ...

Acanthopteroctetoidea and

infraorder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

Acanthoctesia. Based on more recent research, they may instead be included (alongside the

Neopseustidae Neopseustidae is a small family of day and night-flying "archaic bell moths" in the order Lepidoptera. They are classified into their own superfamily Neopseustoidea and infraorder Neopseustina. Four genera are known. These primitive moths are re ...

and the

Aenigmatineidae Aenigmatineidae is a family of basal Lepidoptera, moths discovered on Kangaroo Island in South Australia by Dr Richard Glatz. The family is based on a single species discovered in 2015, ''Aenigmatinea glatzella'', commonly known as the enigma mo ...

) in superfamily Neopseustoidea.

Morphology

Moths in this superfamily are usually small (but one is 15 mm. in wingspan) and iridescent. Like other "homoneurous"

Coelolepida Coelolepida is a clade of insects in the lepidopteran order, containing the infraorders Acanthoctesia and Lophocoronina Lophocoronoidea is a superfamily of insects in the order Lepidoptera. There is a single extant genus, ''Lophocorona'', ...

and non-

ditrysia The Ditrysia are a natural group or clade of insects in the lepidopteran order containing both butterflies and moths. They are so named because the female has two distinct sexual openings: one for mating, and the other for laying eggs (in cont ...

Heteroneura Heteroneura is a natural group (or clade) in the insect order Lepidoptera that comprises over 99% of all butterflies and moths. This is the sister group of the infraorder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic r ...

, the

ocelli A simple eye (sometimes called a pigment pit) refers to a form of eye or an optical arrangement composed of a single lens and without an elaborate retina such as occurs in most vertebrates. In this sense "simple eye" is distinct from a multi-le ...

are lost. There are a variety of unique structural characteristics, and are evolutionary distinctive. The female adults of both ''Catapterix crimaea'' and ''C. tianshanica'' are unknown.

Diversity and distribution

Four of the species of type genus ''Acanthopteroctetes'' ('' A. aurulenta'', '' A. bimaculata'', '' A. tripunctata'' and '' A. unifascia'') are very localised in

Western North America Western North America is the western edge of the North American continent that borders the Pacific Ocean. It consists of Alaska at the farthest north, down through the western Canadian province of British Columbia, the western U.S. states of ...

, while its fifth species ('' A. nepticuloides'') was described from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

. Genus ''

'' has two species, of which ''

Catapterix crimaea ''Catapterix crimaea'' is a moth of the family Acanthopteroctetidae and type species of the genus ''Catapterix''. It was described in 1988 from the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in East ...

'' has been observed in

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...

and southern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, while ''

Catapterix tianshanica ''Catapterix tianshanica'' is a moth of the family Acanthopteroctetidae, currently known only from a single adult male specimen collected in Kyrgyzstan. Its host plants are unknown. Description ''Catapterix tianshanica'' has a wingspan of 7 ...

'' is known from

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

. In addition, two taxa are known to exist but have so far not been formally described: one from the Andes in Peru, and one from China.

Taxonomy

Around the start of the century, they were considered the fifth group up on the comb of branching events in the

extant Extant is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Extant taxon, a taxon which is not extinct, ...

lepidopteran

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spe ...

, and also deemed to represent the most basal

lineage Lineage may refer to: Science * Lineage (anthropology), a group that can demonstrate its common descent from an apical ancestor or a direct line of descent from an ancestor * Lineage (evolution), a temporal sequence of individuals, populatio ...

in the lepidopteran group

(along with

Lophocoronoidea Lophocoronoidea is a superfamily of insects in the order Lepidoptera. There is a single extant genus, ''Lophocorona'', in the family Lophocoronidae. These are small, primitive nocturnal moths restricted to Australia whose biology is largely unkn ...

and the massive group "Myoglossata") characterised in part by its

scale Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number ...

morphology. Research on the

molecular phylogeny Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

of the Lepidoptera since then has indicated a close relation between the Acanthopteroctetidae, the

and the

, and the three may be considered part of a single superfamily

Neopseustoidea Neopseustidae is a small family of day and night-flying "archaic bell moths" in the order Lepidoptera. They are classified into their own superfamily Neopseustoidea and infraorder Neopseustina. Four genera are known. These primitive moths are res ...

rather than three separate, monobasic superfamilies. 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. Genus ''Catapterix'' was originally described within its own family, Catapterigidae, which is considered a junior synonym of Acanthopteroctidae, with which it shares specialised structural features including similar wing morphology (in ''A. unifascia'').

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. Other than a single record of a specimen tentatively identified as ''Acanthopteroctetes bimaculata'', the larvae of the remaining species in both genera are unknown. ''Acanthopteroctetes unifascia''

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. Th ...

e are

leaf-miner A leaf miner is any one of numerous species of insects in which the larval stage lives in, and eats, the leaf tissue of plants. The vast majority of leaf-mining insects are moths ( Lepidoptera), sawflies ( Symphyta, the mother clade of wasp ...

s on the shrub genus ''

Ceanothus ''Ceanothus'' is a genus of about 50–60 species of nitrogen-fixing shrubs and small trees in the buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae). Common names for members of this genus are buckbrush, California lilac, soap bush, or just ceanothus. ''"Ceanothus"' ...

'' (

Rhamnaceae The Rhamnaceae are a large family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs, and some vines, commonly called the buckthorn family. Rhamnaceae is included in the order Rosales. The family contains about 55 genera and 950 species. The Rhamnaceae ...

). They form blotch-shaped mines and overwinter as larva, after which feeding continues in spring. Pupation occurs in a

cocoon Cocoon may refer to: *Cocoon (silk), a pupal casing made by moth caterpillars and other insect larvae *Apache Cocoon, web development software * ''Cocoon'' (film), a 1985 science fiction-fantasy film **'' Cocoon: The Return'', 1988 sequel to ''Coco ...

on the ground. The adult

s emerge during spring and are

diurnal Diurnal ("daily") may refer to: General * Diurnal cycle, any pattern that recurs daily ** Diurnality, the behavior of animals and plants that are active in the daytime * Diurnal phase shift, a phase shift of electromagnetic signals * Diurnal tem ...

. The specimen tentatively identified as ''

Acanthopteroctetes bimaculata ''Acanthopteroctetes bimaculata'' is a moth of the family Acanthopteroctetidae. It was described by Davis in 1969. It is found in north-eastern Oregon and east-central California.Ribes ''Ribes'' is a genus of about 200 known species of flowering plants, most of them native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The various species are known as currants or gooseberries, and some are cultivated for their edible ...

'' sp. (

Grossulariaceae ''Ribes'' is a genus of about 200 known species of flowering plants, most of them native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The various species are known as currants or gooseberries, and some are cultivated for their edible ...

Conservation

, none of the species in Acanthopteroctetidae have been evaluated by the IUCN.

Footnotes and references

External links

Tree of Life

Fauna Europaea

California Moth Specimens Database

Lepidoptera
Zootaxa {{Taxonbar, from=Q133135 Moth families Acanthoctesia Coelolepida