Taxonomy of the Lepidoptera explained

The insect order Lepidoptera consists of moths (43 superfamilies), most of which are night-flying, and a derived group, mainly day-flying, called butterflies (superfamily Papilionoidea). Within Lepidoptera as a whole, the groups listed below before Glossata contain a few basal families accounting for less than 200 species; the bulk of Lepidoptera are in the Glossata. Similarly, within the Glossata, there are a few basal groups listed first, with the bulk of species in the Heteroneura. Basal groups within Heteroneura cannot be defined with as much confidence, as there are still some disputes concerning the proper relations among these groups. At the family level, however, most groups are well defined, and the families are commonly used by hobbyists and scientists alike.

Unassigned fossil lepidopterans

Suborder Zeugloptera

Suborder Aglossata

Suborder Heterobathmiina

Suborder Glossata

Infraorder Dacnonypha

Infraorder Acanthoctesia

Infraorder Lophocoronina

Infraorder Neopseustina

Infraorder Exoporia

Infraorder Heteroneura

Clade Nepticulina

Clade Eulepidoptera, encompassing all remaining groups

Clade Incurvariina
Clade Etimonotrysia
Clade Ditrysia, encompassing all remaining groups
Clade Apoditrysia, encompassing all remaining groups
Clade Obtectomera, encompassing all remaining groups
Clade Macroheterocera (Macrolepidoptera sensu sticto), encompassing all remaining groups

References

Notes and References

  1. 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. 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. 2015. 10.1111/syen.12115. 2015SysEn..40....5K. 82036021.
  2. Kaila. Lauri. Nupponen. Kari. Gorbunov. Pavel Yu. Mutanen. Marko. Heikkilä. Maria. 2020-05-22. Ustyurtiidae, a new family of Urodoidea with description of a new genus and two species from Kazakhstan, and discussion on possible affinity of Urodoidea to Schreckensteinioidea (Lepidoptera). Insect Systematics & Evolution. en. 51. 3. 444–471. 10.1163/1876312X-00002209. 1876-312X. free.
  3. 10.1111/zsc.12108 . Advances in Geometroidea phylogeny, with characterization of a new family based on Pseudobiston pinratanai (Lepidoptera, Glossata) . Zoologica Scripta . 44 . 4 . 418–436 . 2015 . Rajaei. Hossein . Greve. Carola . Letsch. Harald . Stüning. Dieter . Wahlberg. Niklas . Minet. Joël . Misof. Bernhard . 84153029 .