Aenigmatineidae

Aenigmatineidae is a family of basal Lepidoptera, moths discovered on Kangaroo Island in South Australia by Dr Richard Glatz. The family is based on a single species discovered in 2015, Aenigmatinea glatzella, commonly known as the enigma moth.[1] The larvae feed on conifers by mining the stem of Callitris plants in the cypress family. The adult has highly reduced mouthparts but its position in the Glossata containing the more familiar moths-with-tongues is confirmed by morphological and DNA sequence similarity. The group is best treated as a sister of the family Neopseustidae.[2]

Aenigmatineidae
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Aenigmatineidae
Genus: Aenigmatinea
Kristensen & Edwards, 2015
Species:
A. glatzella
Binomial name
Aenigmatinea glatzella
Kristensen & Edwards, 2015

References

  1. Maher, Louise (9 March 2015). "Enigma moth from Kangaroo Island helps scientists unravel evolutionary puzzle of tiny tongues". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  2. Kristensen, Niels P.; Hilton, Douglas J.; Kallies, Axel; Milla, Liz; Rota, Jadranka; Wahlberg, Niklas; Wilcox, Stephen A.; Glatz, Richard v.; Young, David A.; Cocking, Glenn; Edwards, Ted; Gibbs, George W.; Halsey, Mike (2015). "A new extant family of primitive moths from Kangaroo Island, Australia, and its significance for understanding early Lepidoptera evolution". Systematic Entomology. 40 (1): 5–16. doi:10.1111/syen.12115.



This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.