The Adelidae or fairy longhorn moths are a

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 monotrysian

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 in the

lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

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

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 ...

have at least partially metallic patterns coloration and are diurnal, sometimes swarming around the tips of branches with an undulating flight. Others are crepuscular 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 In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

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,

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

, South-East Asia and Australia too. Adelidae are usually closely restricted to particular host 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 Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...

from the flowers of

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

(woody) plants.

Systematics

Fairy longhorn moths belong to 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 ...

Adeloidea, one of the

basal Basal or basilar is a term meaning ''base'', ''bottom'', or ''minimum''. Science * Basal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location for features associated with the base of an organism or structure * Basal (medicine), a minimal level that is nec ...

(" monotrysian") branches of the advanced moth infraorder Heteroneura. By

n standards, they are thus still rather primitive micromoths. But like other Heteroneura, they already possess the apomorphic sucking proboscis – 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 In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

, but most genera are of uncertain or

relationships. Selected species are also listed: Longhornfairymoth

Subfamily Adelinae * '' Adela'' Latreille, 1796 ** '' Adela croesella'' ** '' Adela reaumurella'' – green longhorn * ''

Cauchas ''Cauchas'' is a genus of the fairy longhorn moth family (Adelidae). Among these, it belongs to subfamily Adelinae. The taxon "Cauchas" Philipp Christoph Zeller 1839 was originally created as a subgenus of the genus ''Adela'' Latreille 1796 but ...

'' Zeller, 1839 ** ''

Cauchas rufimitrella ''Cauchas rufimitrella'' is a diurnal lepidopteran from the family Adelidae, the fairy long horn moths. It is found in almost all of Europe, except Portugal, Ukraine and the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula The Balkans ( ), al ...

'' * '' Nemophora'' Illiger & Hoffmannsegg, 1798 (tentatively placed here) **'' Nemophora degeerella'' – longhorn moth ** ''

Nemophora metallica ''Nemophora metallica'' is a moth of the family Adelidae. It is found in Europe. Its wingspan is 15–20 mm. The moth flies from late June to August depending on the location. The larvae feed on ''Knautia arvensis'' and ''Scabiosa columba ...

'' ** '' Nemophora ochsenheimerella'' Subfamily Nematopogoninae * '' Ceromitia'' Zeller, 1852 (tentatively placed here) ** '' Ceromitia iolampra'' * ''

Nematopogon :"Nematopogon" ''was also invalidly established by Agassiz in 1847 as an unjustified emendation for the fungus moth genus '' Nemapogon. __NOTOC__ ''Nematopogon'' is a genus of the fairy longhorn moth family (Adelidae). Among these, it belongs ...

'' '' Incertae sedis'' * ''

Subclemensia ''Subclemensia'' is a genus of moths of the family Incurvariidae Incurvariidae is a family of small primitive monotrysian moths in the order Lepidoptera. There are twelve genera recognised (Davis, 1999). Many species are leaf miners and much i ...

'' * '' Trichofrons'' The genus ''

Tridentaforma ''Tridentaforma'' is a genus of moths of the Tridentaformidae family, the sole genus of the family. There is only one species in the genus (and the family), ''Tridentaforma fuscoleuca'', which is found in California and Canada. The wingspan ...

'' is sometimes placed among the Adelidae ''incertae sedis'' too; others assign it to the closely related Prodoxidae.

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