Papilionoidea (original) (raw)

Introduction

The "true" butterflies are composed of five families - Papilionidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae, Riodinidae and Lycaenidae. There are estimated to be some 13,700 species extant in the world (Robbins, 1982), distributed on every continent except Antarctica, and most remote oceanic islands as well. The greatest diversity occurs in tropical regions, particularly the neotropics.

Characteristics

Butterflies are commonly distinguished from "moths" (an enormous paraphyletic group of which butterflies represent a derived subclade) by their diurnal activity and their clubbed antennae. In general, most day-flying Lepidoptera are butterflies, but there are some crepuscular butterfly species that are rarely encountered during the daytime, and there are also many species of moths that are active during the day (e. g., Uraniidae, Zygaenidae, Castniidae, some Arctiidae and Sphingidae). In addition, it should be noted that some moth groups, such as Castniidae and Zygaenidae, also exhibit clubbed antennae!

References

Ackery, P. R., R. de Jong, and R. I. Vane-Wright. 1999. The butterflies: Hedyloidea, Hesperioidea, and Papilionoidea. Pages 264-300 in: Lepidoptera: Moths and Butterflies. 1. Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Handbook of Zoology Vol. IV, Part 35. N. P. Kristensen, ed. De Gruyter, Berlin and New York.

Boggs, C. L., W. B. Watt, and P. R. Ehrlich, eds. 2003. Butterflies: Ecology and Evolution Taking Flight. University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London.

Campbell, D. L., A. V. Z. Brower, and N. E. Pierce. 2000. Molecular evolution of the wingless gene and its implications for the phylogenetic placement of the butterfly family Riodinidae (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea). Molecular Biology and Evolution 17(5):684-696.

de Jong, R., R. I. Vane-Wright, and P. R. Ackery. 1996. The higher classification of butterflies (Lepidoptera): problems and prospects. Entomologica Scandinavica 27(1):65-101.

Kristensen N. P. 1976. Remarks on the family-level phylogeny of butterflies (Insecta, Lepidoptera, Rhopalocera). Zeit. Zool. Syst. Evol. 14: 25-33.

Kristensen, N. P. and A. W. Skalski. 1999. Phylogeny and paleontology. Pages 7-25 in: Lepidoptera: Moths and Butterflies. 1. Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Handbook of Zoology Vol. IV, Part 35. N. P. Kristensen, ed. De Gruyter, Berlin and New York.

Minet, J. 1991. Tentative Reconstruction of the ditrysian phylogeny (Lepidiptera, Gloassata). Entomologica Scandinavica 22(1):69-95.

Paulus, H. F., and H. W. Krenn. 1996. Comparative morphology of the butterfly proboscis and its sensilla - A contribution to the phylogenetic systematics of Papilionoidea (Insecta, Lepidoptera). Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 34(4):203-216.

Robbins R. K. 1982. How many butterfly species? News Lepid. Soc. 1982: 40-41.

Wahlberg, N., M. F. Braby, A. V. Z. Brower, R. de Jong, M.-M. Lee, S. Nylin, N. E. Pierce, F. A. H. Sperling, R. Vila, A. D. Warren, and E. Zakharov. 2005. Synergistic effects of combining morphological and molecular data in resolving the phylogeny of butterflies and skippers. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B 272:1577-1586.

Weller, S. J. and D. P. Pashley. 1995. In seach of butterfly origins. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 4(3):235-246.

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Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA

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Brower, Andrew V. Z. 2008. Papilionoidea Latreille 1802. True Butterflies. Version 07 October 2008 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Papilionoidea/12027/2008.10.07 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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