Ditrysia is a
clade
In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...
of
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 ...
ns that contains both
butterflies and a majority of moth species. They are named for the fact that the female has two distinct sexual openings: one for
mating, and the other for laying
eggs.
About 98% of known Lepidoptera species belong to Ditrysia. As larvae, they initially feed on plants until they grow to become adults and feed on nectar. They function as herbivores, pollinators, and prey in terrestrial ecosystems, and can also be extremely damaging to crops. The Lepidoptera group can be divided into the primitive but
paraphyletic
Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...
"micromoths" and the derived
monophyletic
In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria:
# the grouping contains its own most recent co ...
Apoditrysia, which include mostly larger moths, as well as the butterflies.
Those with a dorsal heart vessel belong in section
Cossina. Others, having a ventral heart vessel, belong in section Tineina. While it is difficult to pinpoint the origin of affinities between clades, Tineoidea are found to be useful in understanding the vast diversity in Ditrysia. Obstecomera and Macrolepidoptera are other examples of Ditrysia's subclades. Apoditrysia, Obtectomera, and Macrolepidoptera will be considered monophyletic if one or more organisms are either included or excluded from the clade.
See also
*
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 ...
*
Taxonomy of Lepidoptera
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
Tree of Life project page: Ditrysia*
Protostome unranked clades
{{Ditrysia-stub