The Adelidae or fairy longhorn moths are a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of monotrysian

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

s in the lepidopteran infraorder Heteroneura. The family was first described by Charles Théophile Bruand d'Uzelle in 1851. Most

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

have at least partially metallic, patterned coloration and are diurnal, sometimes swarming around the tips of branches with an undulating flight. Others are

crepuscular In zoology, a crepuscular animal is one that is active primarily during the twilight period, being matutinal (active during dawn), vespertine (biology), vespertine/vespertinal (active during dusk), or both. This is distinguished from diurnalit ...

and have a drab coloration. Fairy longhorn moths have a wingspan of 4–28 millimeters, and males often have especially long antennae, 1–3 times as long as the forewing. They are widespread around the world and can be found over much of North America and Eurasia from April to June. About 50 species occur in Europe, of which most widely noted is the green longhorn (''Adela reaumurella'') which can sometimes reach great abundance; due to

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

its peak flying season is shifting towards spring. In general, they are more plentiful in the Northern Hemisphere, but the family occurs in the

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeog ...

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

, South-East Asia and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

too. Adelidae appear in certain plants, in which the females insert their eggs or just lay among leaf litter, and the caterpillars make a case, completing their development on the ground. Fairy longhorn moths feed in sunshine on nectar from the flowers of herbaceous (woody) plants.

Systematics

Fairy longhorn moths belong to the superfamily Adeloidea, one of the basal (" monotrysian") branches of the advanced moth infraorder Heteroneura. By lepidopteran standards, they are thus still rather primitive micromoths. But like other Heteroneura, they already possess the apomorphic sucking

proboscis A proboscis () is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular arthropod mouthparts, mouthparts used for feeding and sucking. In vertebrates, a pr ...

– usually considered a defining feature of Lepidoptera, but the most ancestral moths still live on solid food which they chew.Davis (1999) The Adelidae were previously placed as the subfamily Adelinae within the family Incurvariidae.

Subfamilies

The Adelidae are usually divided into two subfamilies, but most genera are of uncertain or basal relationships. Selected species are also listed: Longhornfairymoth

Subfamily Adelinae * '' Adela'' Latreille, 1796 ** '' Adela croesella'' ** '' Adela reaumurella'' – green longhorn * '' Cauchas'' Zeller, 1839 ** '' Cauchas rufimitrella'' * '' Nemophora'' Illiger & Hoffmannsegg, 1798 (tentatively placed here) **'' Nemophora degeerella'' – longhorn moth ** '' Nemophora metallica'' ** '' Nemophora ochsenheimerella'' Subfamily Nematopogoninae * '' Ceromitia'' Zeller, 1852 (tentatively placed here) ** '' Ceromitia iolampra'' * '' Nematopogon'' '' Incertae sedis'' * '' Subclemensia'' * '' Trichofrons'' The genus '' Tridentaforma'' is sometimes placed among the Adelidae ''incertae sedis'' too; others assign it to the closely related

Prodoxidae The Prodoxidae are a family of moths, generally small in size and nondescript in appearance. They include species of moderate pest status, such as the Lampronia capitella, currant shoot borer, and others of considerable ecological and evolutionar ...

Footnotes

References

* Davis, D. R. (1999): The Monotrysian Heteroneura. ''In:'' Kristensen, N. P. (ed.): ''Handbuch der Zoologie/Handbook of Zoology'' (Volume IV – Arthropoda: Insecta. Part 35: Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies 1): 65–90. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin & New York. * Edwards, E. D. (2007): Australian Faunal Directory �
Adelidae
Version of 28 June 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2010. * Fauna Europaea (FE) (2009)
Adelidae
Version 2.1, 22 December 2009. Retrieved 3 May 2010. * Kuchlein, J. H. & Ellis, W. N. (2004): Climate-induced changes in the microlepidoptera fauna of the Netherlands and the implications for nature conservation. ''Journal of Insect Conservation'' 1(2): 73–80. PDF fulltext
*

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q927746 Moth families