Copromorphidae, the "tropical fruitworm moths", is 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 ...

insects Insects (from Latin ') are hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed ...

in the

lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

. These

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

have broad, rounded forewings, and well-

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

d scale patterns. Unlike

Carposinidae Carposinidae, the "fruitworm moths", is a family of insects in the order Lepidoptera. These moths are narrower winged than Copromorphidae, with less rounded forewing tips. Males often have conspicuous patches of scales on either surface (Dugdal ...

the mouthparts include "labial palps" with the second rather than third segment the longest. With other unusual structural characteristics of 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 ...

and adult, it could represent the sister lineage of all other

extant Extant or Least-concern species, least concern 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 * Exta ...

members of this superfamily (Dugdale et al., 1999). The genus ''Sisyroxena'' from

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 ...

is also notable for its unusual

venation Venation may refer to: * Venation (botany), the arrangement of veins in leaves * Wing venation, the arrangement of veins in insect wings See also * * Vernation Vernation or leafing is the formation of new leaves or fronds. In plant anatomy, it ...

and wing scale sockets (Dugdale et al., 1999).

Etymology

The word Copromorphidae derives from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

words (') meaning "excrement" and (') meaning "shape" or "appearance", a reference to the visual characteristics of the moths' camouflage.

Distribution

These moths are widely distributed except the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

region, occurring in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

South East 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 ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

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 ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, 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 ...

, with limited

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

region coverage except that the genera ''Lotisma'' and ''Ellabella'' occur in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, and the latter also in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(Common, 1990). Over 20 belong to the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Copromorpha'' occurring in Indo-Australia (Dugdale et al., 1999).

Behaviour

Adults are night-flying and attracted to lights.

Caterpillars 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 Sym ...

live between joined leaves, flowers or fruits or bore within stems, and some eat leaves. The

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

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 with the silken gallery or descend to the ground and make a cocoon covered in detritus (Dugdale et al., 1999).

Larval hostplants

feed on the families

Ericaceae The Ericaceae () are a Family (biology), family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with about 4,250 known species spread acros ...

Moraceae Moraceae is a family of flowering plants comprising about 48 genera and over 1100 species, and is commonly known as the mulberry or fig family. Most are widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, less so in temperate climates; however, their ...

(

Ficus ''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family (biology), family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few spe ...

) and Berberidaceae

The anomalous genus ''Isonomeutis'' is a predator on "scale insects" (Coccoidea; Margarodidae) (Dugdale et al., 1999) on the Podocarpaceae species ''

Dacrydium ''Dacrydium'' is a genus of conifers belonging to the podocarp family Podocarpaceae. Sixteen species of evergreen Plant sexuality, dioecious trees and shrubs are presently recognized. The genus was first described by Solander in 1786, and former ...

cupressinum

Fossils

One fossil taxon is known, ''Copromorpha fossilis'' Jarzembowski, 1980 from the "

Bembridge Bembridge is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish located on the easternmost point of the Isle of Wight. It had a population of 3,848 according to the 2001 census of the United Kingdom, leading to the implausible claim by so ...

Marls" of

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

, a rock formation of

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

age, about 35 million years old (Jarzembowski, 1980).

Genera

The position of the enigmatic

''Isonomeutis'' in this family in uncertain, as it lacks the flimsy

cuticle A cuticle (), or cuticula, is any of a variety of tough but flexible, non-mineral outer coverings of an organism, or parts of an organism, that provide protection. Various types of "cuticle" are non- homologous, differing in their origin, structu ...

of the

characteristic of other Copromorphoidea. *'' Copromorpha'' Meyrick, 1886 **='' Trychnostola'' Turner, 1916 *'' Aegidomorpha'' Meyrick, 1932 *'' Cathelotis'' Meyrick, 1926 *'' Dryanassa'' Meyrick, 1936 *'' Ellabella'' Busck, 1925 **='' Probolacma'' Meyrick, 1927 **='' Spilogenes'' Meyrick, 1938 *'' Endothamna'' Meyrick, 1922 *'' Isonomeutis'' Meyrick, 1888 *'' Lotisma'' Busck, 1909 *'' Neophylarcha'' Meyrick, 1926 *'' Ordrupia'' Busck, 1911 *'' Osidryas'' Meyrick, 1916 **='' Heterocrita'' Turner, 1913 *'' Phanerochersa'' Meyrick, 1926 *'' Phycomorpha'' Meyrick, 1914 *'' Rhopalosetia'' Meyrick, 1926 *'' Rhynchoferella'' Strand, 1915 *'' Saridacma'' Meyrick, 1930 *'' Syncamaris'' Meyrick, 1932 *'' Tanymecica'' Turner, 1916

Formerly placed here

*'' Phaulophara'' Turner, 1916

References

*Common, I.F.B. (1990). ''Moths of Australia''. Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden. 535 pages. *Dugdale, J.S., Kristensen, N.P., Robinson, G.S. and Scoble, M.J. (1999). The smaller microlepidoptera grade superfamilies, Ch.13., pp. 217–232 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. *Jarzembowski, E.A. (1980). Fossil, insects from the Bembridge Marls, Palaeogene of the Isle of Wight, southern England. ''Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Geology)'', 33: 237–293. *Nasu, Y., Saito, T, Furumi Komai, F. (2004). Discovery of the previously unrecorded family Copromorphidae Meyrick (Lepidoptera) in Japan, with description of a new species and autapomorphies for the family ''Entomological Science'', 7 (1): 73–83.

External links

Tree of LifeNHM Hosts databaseAustralian Moths OnlineLepidoptera of TasmaniaNew Zealand Fauna
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1791484 Copromorphoidea