Uraniinae

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Uraniinae
240px
Urania leilus from South America
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Superfamily:
Geometroidea
Family:
Uraniidae
Subfamily:
Uraniinae

Blanchard, 1845
Genera

Alcides
Chrysiridia
Cyphura
Lyssa
Urania
Urapteritra
Urapteroides

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Uraniinae phylogeny
after Lees and Smith 1991[1]
(1)


(2)


Urania


Chrysiridia



Alcides



Lyssa




Urapteroides


Cyphura





Acropteris


(1) Use Endospermum as a food plant.

(2) Use Omphalea as a food plant
   and adults are diurnal.
Urapterita is not included for lack of data.

The Uraniinae or uraniine moths are a subfamily of moths in the family Uraniidae. It contains seven genera that occur in the tropics of the world.

Three of its genera (Alcides, Chrysiridia and Urania) are essentially diurnal, although some crepuscular activity has been recorded. They are blackish with markings in iridescent green or light blue; in some species with orange, gold or pink highlights. They are as brightly marked as the most colorful butterflies; indeed, they bear an uncanny resemblance in shape and coloration to some papilionid butterflies (swallowtails and relatives). They are also usually toxic, hence the bright warning colors. There are cases where harmless butterflies mimic these toxic moths, e.g. Papilio laglaizei and Alcides agathyrsus.

The remaining genera in the subfamily are far less colorful, overall gray-brown with a light band on each wing (Lyssa) or white with brownish markings (Cyphura, Urapteritra and Urapteroides), and mainly nocturnal or crepuscular. Despite their relatively dull colors, Lyssa are impressive because of their large size with a typical wingspan of 10–16 centimetres (3.9–6.3 in). No other species in the subfamily has a wingspan that exceeds 10 centimetres (3.9 in).

Species

NOTE: This list of species is adapted mostly with some rearrangements from The Global Lepidoptera Names Index; it is likely to be fairly complete (as of January 2006) as including valid species for most of which distributional information is here given.

However, a considerable number of the taxa listed here are suspected to be junior synonyms of others. If starting species/genus pages, please double-check beforehand whether the taxon in question is still considered valid. Especially those in square brackets should be considered suspect without up-to-date information on their taxonomic status, a thorough review of the group being still pending but see.[1]

Note also that namely in suspect taxa, parentheses around describers' names and description dates—which indicate a genus change from the original description—may be missing.

File:Cyphura geminia-Cramer&Stoll-uitlandsche kapellen vol. 2- plate 133.jpg
Cyphura geminia from Ambon Island, Maluku
File:Laos brown butterfly.jpg
Lyssa zampa from Laos
  • Lyssa menoetius adspersus (Regteren Altena, 1953) (Kalimantan)
  • Lyssa menoetius celebensis (Regteren Altena, 1953) (Sulawesi)
  • Lyssa zampa docile (Butler, 1877) (Andaman Islands)
  • Lyssa zampa dilutus (Röber, 1927) (Sulawesi)
File:Cydimon sloanus.JPG
Lithograph of Urania sloanus (top) and Urania brasiliensis (bottom) published in 1897; they were formerly placed in the genus Cydimon
File:Urapteroides astheniata (Uraniidae).jpg
Urapteroides astheniata from Australia

References

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External links

  • Moths of Borneo: Subfamily Uraniinae (with pictures and description of species: Lyssa zampa, L. menoetius, Urapteroides astheniata)

Further reading

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