Esperia (moth)

Esperia (moth)
Esperia
Mating adults of Esperia sulphurella
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Division: Ditrysia
Family: Oecophoridae
Subfamily: Oecophorinae
Genus: Esperia (but see text)
Hübner, 1825
Synonyms

Numerous, see text

Esperia is a genus of the concealer moth family (Oecophoridae). Among these, it belongs to subfamily Oecophorinae. Most authors include Dasycera here, though approaches that generally follow a "splitting" approach sometimes do not.[1]

The type species of Esperia (originally described as Tinea orbonella, now E. sulphurella) has some differences versus the type species of Dasycera (originally described as T. aemulella, now E. oliviella), but these are slight and at present it is not determined whether they justify the maintenance of two small genera versus a more comprehensive genus containing two subgenera.[2]

Selected species

Species of Esperia (including Dasycera) include:[verification needed][1]

  • Esperia imitatrix (Zeller, 1847)
  • Esperia krueperella (Staudinger, 1871)
  • Esperia oliviella
  • Esperia sulphurella

Synonyms

Invalid scientific names (junior synonyms and others) of Esperia are:[3]

  • Dasycera Stephens 1829 (but see above)
  • Dasycerus Haworth 1828 (non Brongniart, 1800: preoccupied)
  • Gnaphalodeocera Agassiz, 1847 (unjustified emendation)
  • Gnaphalodocera Blanchard, 1840
  • Hermiona Blanchard, 1845
  • Stenoptera Duponchel, 1838

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b FE (2009a,b), and see references in Savela (2003)
  2. ^ Pitkin & Jenkins (2004a,b), FE (2009a,b), and see references in Savela (2003)
  3. ^ Pitkin & Jenkins (2004), and see references in Savela (2003)

References


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