Gynaephora Menyuanensis
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''Gynaephora'' is a genus of "tussock
moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...
s", also known as the
Lymantriinae The Lymantriinae (formerly called the Lymantriidae) are a subfamily of moths of the family Erebidae. The taxon was erected by George Hampson in 1893. Many of its component species are referred to as "tussock moths" of one sort or another. The ca ...
, within the family
Erebidae The Erebidae are a family (biology), family of moths in the superfamily Noctuoidea. The family is among the largest families of moths by species count and contains a wide variety of well-known macromoth groups. The family includes the underwin ...
. They are mainly found in the
Holarctic The Holarctic realm is a biogeographic realm that comprises the majority of habitats found throughout the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. It corresponds to the floristic Boreal Kingdom. It includes both the Nearctic zoogeographical reg ...
in alpine, Arctic and Subarctic regions, and are best known for their unusually long larval development period. The life-cycle of ''
Gynaephora groenlandica ''Gynaephora groenlandica'', the Arctic woolly bear moth, is an erebid moth native to the High Arctic in the Canadian archipelago, Greenland and Wrangel Island in Russia. It is known for its slow rate of development, as its full caterpillar li ...
'' was once believed to take fourteen years, but subsequent studies reduced it to seven, still a very slow development rate that is extremely rare 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 ...
. The caterpillars have five
instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'' 'form, likeness') is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, which occurs between each moult (''ecdysis'') until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to ...
s, with each instar lasting a year.


Taxonomy

The European species '' Gynaephora selenitica'' was the first described (as ''Phalaena selenitica''). It was moved to ''Gynaephora'' by
Jakob Hübner Jakob may refer to: People * Jakob (given name), including a list of people with the name * Jakob (surname), including a list of people with the name Other * Jakob (band), a New Zealand band, and the title of their 1999 EP * Max Jakob Memorial Awa ...
in 1819 and subsequently designated as
type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...
by
William Forsell Kirby William Forsell Kirby (14 January 1844 – 20 November 1912) was an English entomologist and folklorist. He specialized in the study of the stick insects, describing nearly 70 species and 22 genera. His collection filled 120 cabinets and clai ...
in 1892. In Kirby's time there were three species recognised in the genus: ''G. selenitica'', ''G. pluto'' (now '' Xylophanes pluto'') and ''G. xerampelina'' (now '' Aroa xerampelina''). ''Laria rossii'' had been described by
Curtis Curtis or Curtiss is a common English given name and surname of Anglo-Norman origin, deriving from the Old French ''curteis'' (Modern French">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of Fren ...
from the Canadian archipelago in 1835, but in 1870
Heinrich Benno Möschler Heinrich Benno Möschler (28 October 1831, in Herrnhut – 21 November 1888, in Kronförstchen, near Bautzen) was a German entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera. Möschler was a butterfly dealer and a member of the Entomological Society of ...
moved it to the genus ''
Dasychira ''Dasychira'' is a genus of tussock moths in the family Erebidae described by Jacob Hübner in 1809. They are well distributed all over Africa, Europe, North America, Madagascar, Japan, China, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Java and Australia. Desc ...
''. In 1874 a second Arctic ''Dasychira'' species was described by Maximilian Ferdinand Wocke from northern
Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...
: ''D. groenlandica''. In 1927
William Schaus William Schaus (January 11, 1858, in New York City – June 20, 1942) was an American Entomology, entomologist who became known for his major contribution to the knowledge and description of new species of the Neotropical realm, Neotropical Lepido ...
moved both to the genus ''Byrdia''. ''Dasychira pumila'' was described by
Otto Staudinger Otto Staudinger (2 May 1830 – 13 October 1900) was a German entomologist and a natural history dealer considered one of the largest in the world specialising in the collection and sale of insects to museums, scientific institutions, and indi ...
in 1881. He also commented that he found this new taxon distinctive enough to be classified in a new genus, which he provisionally suggested naming ''Dasyorgyia''.
William Forsell Kirby William Forsell Kirby (14 January 1844 – 20 November 1912) was an English entomologist and folklorist. He specialized in the study of the stick insects, describing nearly 70 species and 22 genera. His collection filled 120 cabinets and clai ...
validated this name in 1882, classifying a number of species as ''Dasyorgyia'', and in 1901 Staudinger published the species under the name ''Dasyorgyia pumila'' along with four other species: ''D. alpherakii'', ''D. grumi'', ''D. selenophora'' and ''D. semenovi''.
Embrik Strand Embrik Strand (2 June 1876 – 3 November 1947) was an entomologist and arachnologist who classified many insect and spider species, including the greenbottle blue tarantula. Life and career Strand was born in Ål, Norway. He studied at t ...
in 1910 or 1912, and
Felix Bryk Felix Bryk (21 January 1882, in Vienna – 13 January 1957, in Stockholm) was a Swedish anthropologist, entomologist and writer. In entomological circles, Bryk is best known as a lepidopterist; in anthropological history, for his studies in East ...
in 1934 followed Staudinger, but in 1950 Igor Vasilii Kozhanchikov moved ''D. pumila'' to ''Gynaephora'', and also named a new species ''G. sincera''. In 1978 these and two other species, ''G. alpherakii'' and ''G. selenophora'', were classified by Douglas C. Ferguson in a subgenus using Otto Staudinger's 1881 alternative name ''Dasyorgyia'' with as type species ''G. pumila''. Chou Io and Ying Chiang-Chu described four new species from China in 1979: ''G. aureata'', ''G. minora'', ''G. qinghaiensis'' and ''G. ruoergensis'', with their paper written in
Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...
. In 1984 Karel Spitzer reviewed the genus, recording three species in the genus ''
sensu stricto ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular c ...
'' (the
nominate Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list. Political office In th ...
subgenus ''Gynaephora''): ''G. groenlandica'', ''G. rossii'' and ''G. selenitica''. In subgenus ''Dasyorgyia'' he classified seven species: ''G. alpherakii'', ''G. aureata'', ''G. minora'', ''G. pumila'', ''G. qinghaiensis'', ''G. selenophora'' and ''G. sincera'', having synonymised ''G. ruoergensis'' with ''G. selenophora'' (now '' Lachana selenophora''). In 2008 Tatyana A. Trofimova moved ''Gynaephora pumila'' to ''
Dicallomera ''Dicallomera'' is a genus of tussock moths in the family Erebidae. Taxonomy Linnaeus first described ''Phalaena bombyx fascelina'' in 1758. Arthur Gardiner Butler first created the genus ''Dicallomera'' in 1881, for which he made '' Dicallomera ...
'', and as this was the type species for the subgenus ''Dasyorgyia'', she was obliged to look into the other species of the subgenus. She moved ''G. alpherakii'', ''G. selenophora'' and ''G. sincera'' to the genus '' Lachana'', but refrained from making a decision regarding the newer Chinese taxa.


Etymology

According to one website, the
generic epithet 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 spec ...
''Gynaephora'' means 'women-seeker', which refers to the behaviour of the males. Females rarely or do not fly, but are said to "call out" to the males. Males fly rapidly searching for the females. However, the word ''gynaephora'' in fact means 'women-bringer' or 'bringer-of-woman'; it is compounded from the
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
γυνή (''guní''), meaning "woman", and φορά (''phorá''), usually meaning "bringer" (along with some other related meanings). It has been placed in the
tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...
Orgyiini The Orgyiini are a tribe of tussock moths of the family Erebidae. The tribe was described by Wallengren in 1861. Description Caterpillars of the group have brushes of hairs on the top of abdominal segments 1 (adjacent to the thorax), 2, 3, 4, a ...
, which is in the
subfamily 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 botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...
Lymantriinae The Lymantriinae (formerly called the Lymantriidae) are a subfamily of moths of the family Erebidae. The taxon was erected by George Hampson in 1893. Many of its component species are referred to as "tussock moths" of one sort or another. The ca ...
(the tussock moths).


Description

Of the species in this genus ''
sensu stricto ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular c ...
'', the males have a thin
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 ...
. The females of species of this genus, ''sensu stricto'', of all the species in which they have been seen, lack wings and are flightless. The caterpillars of the species in this genus ''sensu stricto'' are large and very hairy.


Species

*'' Gynaephora selenitica'' ( Esper, 1789) *'' Gynaephora rossii'' (
Curtis Curtis or Curtiss is a common English given name and surname of Anglo-Norman origin, deriving from the Old French ''curteis'' (Modern French">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of Fren ...
, 1835)
*''
Gynaephora groenlandica ''Gynaephora groenlandica'', the Arctic woolly bear moth, is an erebid moth native to the High Arctic in the Canadian archipelago, Greenland and Wrangel Island in Russia. It is known for its slow rate of development, as its full caterpillar li ...
'' ( Wocke, 1874) Sometimes the alpine populations of
Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
of ''Gynaephora rossii'' are recognised as an independent species: ''G. relictus'' (O.Bang-Haas, 1927). ''G. lugens'' from the far north of eastern
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
was recognised as an independent species until 2015, when it was made into a
subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
of ''G. rossii''. There is furthermore a group of species from the Tibet-Qinghai Plateau belonging to the former subgenus ''Dasyorgyia''. *'' Gynaephora aureata'' Chou & Ying, 1979 *'' Gynaephora jiuzhiensis'' *'' Gynaephora menyuanensis'' Yan & Chou, 1997 *'' Gynaephora minora'' Chou & Ying, 1979 *'' Gynaephora qinghaiensis'' Chou & Ying, 1979 *'' Gynaephora qumalaiensis'' *'' Gynaephora ruoergensis'' Chou & Ying, 1979 In 1984 Spitzer synonymised ''G. ruoergensis'' with '' Lachana selenophora''. He found ''Gynaephora qinghaiensis'' to be a probable synonym of ''
Lachana alpherakii ''Lachana alpherakii'' is a species of moth of the subfamily Lymantriinae first described by Grigory Grum-Grshimailo in 1891. It is found in the high mountains of Tibet and China. Description The wingspan is 22–27 mm. Taxonomy Grigory G ...
'', although he was unable to be certain of this. Both '' Lachana'' species were classified as ''Gynaephora'' species at this point. In 2008 Trofimova published her opinion that ''G. aureata'', ''G. minora'', ''G. qinghaiensis'' and ''G. ruoergensis'', all described from China by Chou and Ying in 1979, are possibly synonyms of ''
Lachana alpherakii ''Lachana alpherakii'' is a species of moth of the subfamily Lymantriinae first described by Grigory Grum-Grshimailo in 1891. It is found in the high mountains of Tibet and China. Description The wingspan is 22–27 mm. Taxonomy Grigory G ...
'', although not having been able to study the type specimens, she was unable to confirm her suspicions. A study of DNA markers of the species of the genus ''Gynaephora'', which was published in 2015, found them allied closer to the outgroup ''Lachana alpherakii'', and likely should be moved to ''Lachana''.


Ecology

These are all alpine or Arctic species.


References


External links

* * http://www.bbc.co.uk/expeditions/ellesmereisland/stories/woollybearcaterpillar {{Taxonbar, from=Q10293245 Lymantriinae Moth genera Taxa named by Jacob Hübner