''Eudonia'' is a large and widespread

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 ...

in the

grass moth Crambidae comprises the grass moth family of lepidopterans. They are variable in appearance, with the nominal subfamily Crambinae (grass moths) taking up closely folded postures on grass stems where they are inconspicuous, while other subfamilies ...

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 ...

(Crambidae), subfamily

Scopariinae Scopariinae is a subfamily of the lepidopteran family Crambidae. The subfamily was described by Achille Guenée in 1854. Genera *''Afrarpia'' Maes, 2004 *''Afroscoparia'' Nuss, 2003 *''Anarpia'' Chapman, 1912 *''Antiscopa'' Munroe, 1964 *''Carad ...

. There is no common name for the roughly 250

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), ...

placed here; new species are still being described regularly. Although the genus was proposed early in the 19th century, many of these moths were for a long time retained in '' Scoparia'', the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus (''genus typica'') is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearin ...

of the subfamily and a close relative of ''Eudonia''. A few small genera have been proposed for separation from ''Eudonia'', but given the size of this group this is not particularly convincing; thus, all are retained here pending a comprehensive

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

review.

Description and ecology

They are usually greyish-brownish and rather inconspicuous moths, though some are more boldly patterned in blackish, pale and even yellow hues. Like their close relatives, they lack the loop formed by forewing veins 1a/1b, and their labial

palp Pedipalps (commonly shortened to palps or palpi) are the secondary pair of forward appendages among chelicerates – a group of arthropods including spiders, scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. The pedipalps are lateral to the chelicera ...

s are elongated and project straightly, appearing like a pointed "beak". The genitals have a characteristically simple shape in this genus; while they cannot usually be depended upon to differ significantly between species, they allow to distinguish this genus from similar moths. In the males, the

clasper In biology, a clasper is a male anatomical structure found in some groups of animals, used in mating. Male cartilaginous fish have claspers formed from the posterior portion of their pelvic fin which serve to channel semen into the female's ...

's harpe has few if any unusual features, the

aedeagus An aedeagus ( or aedeagi) is a reproductive organ of male arthropods through which they secrete sperm from the testes during copulation (zoology), copulation with a female. It can be thought of as the insect equivalent of a mammal's penis, th ...

is usually a rather nondescript rod, and the vesica bears a characteristic small disc with a grainy surface. In females, the

ductus bursae In anatomy and physiology, a duct is a circumscribed channel leading from an exocrine gland or organ. Types of ducts Examples include: Duct system As ducts travel from the acinus which generates the fluid to the target, the ducts become large ...

is kinked at the junction of the forward (membranous) and hind (

sclerotized Sclerosis (also sclerosus in the Latin names of a few disorders) is a hardening of tissue and other anatomical features. It may refer to: * Sclerosis (medicine), a hardening of tissue * in zoology, a process which forms sclerites, a hardened exo ...

) parts, with a particularly heavy sclerotized triangle bearing small teeth half-hidden in the kink. They are common across the world's

continent A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention (norm), convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single large landmass, a part of a very large landmass, as ...

s except in deserts, on high mountains, and in

glaciated A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires d ...

areas. They are apparently able to disperse well over water, as evidenced by the

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

n radiations which occur mainly from

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...

to the

Austral Islands The Austral Islands ( officially ''Archipel des Australes;'' ) are the southernmost group of islands in French Polynesia, an overseas country of France, overseas country of the France, French Republic in the Oceania, South Pacific. Geographicall ...

as well as on

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 ...

; several of these island

endemics Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

might nowadays be rare or extinct due to the disappearance of their food plants, but overall the genus is not yet very well studied. As far as is known, 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 ...

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 ...

e of most ''Eudonia'' feed on

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

es, namely of subclasses

Bryidae Bryidae is an important subclass of Bryopsida. It is common throughout the whole world. Members have a double peristome with alternating tooth segments. Classification The classification of the Bryidae.Buck, William R. & Bernard Goffinet. 2000. ...

and

Dicranidae The Dicranidae are a widespread and diverse subclass of mosses in class Bryopsida, with many species of dry or disturbed areas. They are distinguished by their spores; the peristome teeth are haplolepideous with a 4:2:3 formula, and an exostome ...

; some also eat

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

. In a few cases, other food plants have been recorded or suspected, such as ''

Colobanthus ''Colobanthus'' is a large genus of small, cushion-like herbaceous plants in the family Caryophyllaceae, sometimes known as "pearlworts", a name they share with plants of the related genus ''Sagina''. ''C. quitensis'' is the world's southernmost ...

'' pearlworts or woody

asterid Asterids are a large clade (monophyletic group) of flowering plants, composed of 17 orders and more than 80,000 species, about a third of the total flowering plant species. The asterids are divided into the unranked clades lamiids (8 orders) and ...

s of genus ''

Olearia ''Olearia'', most commonly known as daisy-bush, is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Asteraceae, the largest of the flowering plant families in the world. Olearia are found in Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand. The genus i ...

'' (daisy-bushes).Clarke (1986), and see references in Savela

Species

* '' Eudonia abrupta'' * '' Eudonia achlya'' * '' Eudonia actias'' * '' Eudonia aeolias'' * '' Eudonia aequalis'' * '' Eudonia albafascicula'' * '' Eudonia albertalis'' * '' Eudonia albilinea'' * '' Eudonia alopecias'' * '' Eudonia alpina'' (including ''E. lugubralis'') * '' Eudonia alticola'' * '' Eudonia amphicypella'' * ''

Eudonia angustea ''Eudonia angustea'' is a moth of the family Crambidae described by John Curtis (entomologist), John Curtis in 1827. It is found in southern and western Europe, the Canary Islands, Madeira and Turkey. The wingspan is 17–22 mm.The forewings ...

Eudonia sabulosella ''Eudonia'' is a large and widespread genus in the grass moth family (Crambidae), subfamily Scopariinae. There is no common name for the roughly 250 species placed here; new species are still being described regularly. Although the genus was prop ...

'' * '' Eudonia schwarzalis'' * '' Eudonia scoriella'' * '' Eudonia senecaensis'' * '' Eudonia shafferi'' * '' Eudonia siderina'' * '' Eudonia singulannulata'' * '' Eudonia sogai'' * '' Eudonia spaldingalis'' * '' Eudonia spectacularis'' * '' Eudonia speideli'' * '' Eudonia spenceri'' * '' Eudonia stenota'' * '' Eudonia steropaea'' * '' Eudonia strigalis'' * '' Eudonia struthias'' * '' Eudonia subditella'' * '' Eudonia submarginalis'' * '' Eudonia sudetica'' * '' Eudonia synapta'' * '' Eudonia taiwanalpina'' * '' Eudonia tetranesa'' * '' Eudonia thalamias'' * '' Eudonia thomealis'' * '' Eudonia threnodes'' * '' Eudonia thyellopis'' * '' Eudonia thyridias'' * '' Eudonia tibetalis'' * '' Eudonia tivira'' * '' Eudonia torniplagalis'' * '' Eudonia torodes'' * '' Eudonia triacma'' * '' Eudonia triclera'' * '' Eudonia trivirgatus'' * '' Eudonia truncicolella'' * '' Eudonia tyraula'' * '' Eudonia tyrophanta'' * '' Eudonia umbrosa'' * '' Eudonia ustiramis'' * '' Eudonia vallesialis'' * '' Eudonia venosa'' * '' Eudonia viettei'' * '' Eudonia vinasalis'' * '' Eudonia vivida'' * '' Eudonia wolongensis'' * '' Eudonia xysmatias'' * '' Eudonia yaoundeiensis'' * '' Eudonia ycarda'' * '' Eudonia zhongdianensis'' * '' Eudonia zophochlaena'' * '' Eudonia zophochlora''

Footnotes

References

* (1986): Pyralidae and Microlepidoptera of the Marquesas Archipelago. ''Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology'' 416: 1-485
PDF fulltext
(214 MB!) * (2010) ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' &ndash

Version of April 6, 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2011. * , 1984: Contribution à l'étude des Scopariinae. 4. Révision des types décrits de la région paléarctique occidentale, description de dix nouveaux taxa et ébauche d'une liste des espèces de cette région. (Lepidoptera: Crambidae). ''Nouvelle Revue d'Entomologie'' Alexanor: 157-192. * , 1985: Contribution à l'étude des Scopariinae. 5. Quatre nouveaux taxa d'Afghanistan. (Lepidoptera: Crambidae). ''Nouvelle Revue d'Entomologie'' N.S. 2 (3): 325-329. * , 1986: Contribution à l'étude des Scopariinae. 6. Dix nouveaux taxa, trois genres, de Chine et du nord de l'Inde. (Lepidoptera: Crambidae). ''Nouvelle Revue d'Entomologie'' N.S. 3 (1): 123-131. * , 2012: One new species of the genus ''Eudonia'' Billberg (Lepidoptera: Crambidae: Scopariinae) from China. ''Entomotaxonomia'' 34 (2): 267-269. * , 2012: Taxonomic revision of the genus ''Eudonia'' Billberg, 1820 from China (Lepidoptera: Crambidae: Scopariinae). ''Zootaxa'' 3273: 1-27. * , 1998: The Scopariinae and Heliothelinae stat. rev. (Lepidoptera: Pyraloidea: Crambidae) of the Oriental Region-a revisional synopsis with descriptions of new species from the Philippines and Sumatra. ''Nachrichten des Entomologischen Vereins Apollo'' Supplement 17: 475-528. * , 1998: Notes on the Scopariinae from Taiwan, with descriptions of nine new species (Lepidoptera: Crambidae). ''Tinea'' 15 (3): 191-201.

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1936880 Scopariinae Crambidae genera Taxa named by Gustaf Johan Billberg