Callidulidae, the only known family of the superfamily Calliduloidea, is the

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 Old World butterfly-moths, containing eight

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

. They have a peculiar distribution, restricted to the Old World tropics of

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

and

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. The three subfamilies exhibit both day- and night-flying behaviour. The mainly day-flying Callidulinae can be distinguished by their resting posture, which is the most

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

-like, with the wings held closely over the back. Resembling the butterfly

Lycaenidae Lycaenidae is the second-largest family (biology), 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 ...

, these moths can be told apart by their antennae which taper to a point or may be very subtly clubbed. The more often night-flying Pterothysaninae and Griveaudiinae have a different adult resting posture (the latter roof-like in repose) and these were not placed within the Callidulidae until recently. Biology of most subfamilies and species is poorly known. Eggs are very flat in Griveaudiinae and Callidulinae, and caterpillars of Callidulinae are green with a shiny black head and have only been reported from ferns forming a leaf roll in which they live, eat and finally

pupa A pupa (; : 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 their life cycle, the stages th ...

te, while the pupa of '' Helicomitra'' appears to be subterranean. The closest relatives of Callidulidae are not known, but they are currently placed in a group that includes the three

superfamilies, the "hook-tip moths"

Drepanoidea Drepanoidea is the superfamily of "hook tip moths". See Minet and Scoble (1999) for a comprehensive overview. References * Minet, J. and Scoble, M.J. (1999). The Drepanoid/Geometroid Assemblage. Ch. 17 in Kristensen, N.P. (Ed.). ''Lepidoptera ...

and the "geometer moths"

Geometroidea The Geometroidea are the superfamily of geometrid moths in the order Lepidoptera. It includes the families Geometridae, Uraniidae, Epicopeiidae, Sematuridae Sematuridae is a Family (biology), family of moths in the lepidopteran Order (bio ...

and also possibly Axioidea which share some structural characteristics.Minet, J. (1999 988. The Axioidea and Calliduloidea. Ch. 16, pp. 257–261 in Kristensen, N.P. (Ed.). ''Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies''. Volume 1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Handbuch der Zoologie. Eine Naturgeschichte der Stämme des Tierreiches / Handbook of Zoology. A Natural History of the phyla of the Animal Kingdom. Band / Volume IV Arthropoda: Insecta Teilband / Part 35: 491 pp. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York.

Cited references

Other references

* (1990 989. Nouvelles frontières, géographiques et taxonomiques, pour la famille des Callidulidae (Lepidoptera, Calliduloidea). ''Nouvelle Revue d'Entomologie'' (''N.S.'') 6(4): 351–368. * 2003. Callidulidae

in The Tree of Life Web Project

Accessed October 2006 * (Ed.) (2002) ''Firefly Encyclopedia of Insects and Spiders''.

External links

Tree of LifeNatural History Museum hosts databaseLepIndex list of species and genera in superfamily CalliduloideaMoths of Borneo CallidulidaeMoths of Borneo Callidulinae images''Callidula attenuata'' Accessed 4 March 2007Photo illustrating rest position
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1321398 Callidulidae, Moth families Obtectomera