Castniidae

Taxobox
name = Giant Butterfly-Moths and Sun Moths


image_width = 240px
image_caption = "Paysandisia archon"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Lepidoptera
subordo = Glossata
infraordo = Heteroneura
zoodivisio = Ditrysia
zoosectio = Cossina
zoosubsectio = Cossina
superfamilia = Castnioidea
familia = Castniidae
subdivision_ranks = Subfamilies & Genera
subdivision =
Castniinae
:"Amauta":"Athis":"Castnia":"Castniomera":"Ceretes":"Corybantes":"Divana":"Duboisvalia":"Elina":"Enicospila":"Erythrocastnia":"Eupalamides":"Feschaeria":"Frostetola":"Gazera":"Haemonides":"Hista":"Imara":"Ircila":"Lapaeumides":"Mirocastnia":"Nasca":"Neocastnia":"Paysandisia":"Prometheus":"Spilopastes":"Synemon":"Synpalamides":"Tosxampila":"Xanthocastnia":"Yagra":"Ypanema":"Zegara"
Tascininae
:"Tascina"

Castniidae, or castniid moths, is a small family of moths with less than 200 species: The majority are Neotropical with some in Australia and a few in south-east Asia. These are medium-sized to very large moths, usually with drab, cryptically-marked forewings and brightly coloured hindwings. They have clubbed antennae and are day-flying, and are often mistaken for butterflies. Indeed some previous classification systems placed this family within the butterflies or skippers. The Neotropical species are commonly known as giant butterfly-moths, the Australian and Asian species as sun moths. The larvae are internal feeders, often on roots of epiphytes or on monocotyledons (Edwards et al., 1999: 184-188).

References

*Edwards, E.D., Gentili, P., Horak, M., Kristensen, N.P. and Nielsen, E.S. (1999). The cossoid/sesioid assemblage. Ch. 11, pp. 181-195 in Kristensen, N.P. (Ed.). "Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies". Volume 1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Handbuch der Zoologie. Eine Naturgeschichte der Stämme des Tierreiches / Handbook of Zoology. A Natural History of the phyla of the Animal Kingdom. Band / Volume IV Arthropoda: Insecta Teilband / Part 35: 491 pp. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York.

External links

* [http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/research-curation/projects/butmoth/index.dsml Natural History Museum Lepidoptera genus list]
* [http://www.tolweb.org/Castniidae Tree of Life]
* [http://www.ento.csiro.au/gallery/moths/Castniidae Australian Moths Online]
* [http://www.geocities.com/brisbane_moths/SunMoths.htm Sun Moths]
* [http://linus.socs.uts.edu.au/~don/larvae/cast/castniidae.html Australian Castniidae]
* [http://www.infochembio.ethz.ch/links/en/zool_insekt_castniidae.html Castniidae Images]