Notodontidae
Encyclopedia
Notodontidae is a family of moth
s with approximately 3,500 known species. Moths of this family are found in all parts of the world, but they are most concentrated in tropical areas, especially in the New World
(Miller, 1992). The Thaumetopoeidae
(processionary moths) are sometimes included here as a subfamily.
Species of this family tend to be heavy-bodied and long-winged, the wings held folded across the back of the body at rest. They rarely display any bright colours, usually being mainly grey or brown, with the exception of the Dioptinae subfamily (Grimaldi and Engel, 2005). These features mean they rather resemble Noctuidae
although the families are not closely related. The adults do not feed. Many species have a tuft of hair on the trailing edge of the forewing which protrudes upwards at rest. This gives them the common name of prominents. The common names of some other species reflect their hairiness, such as Puss Moth
and the group commonly known as kittens (Furcula
spp.), so named as they resemble small versions of the Puss Moth.
s are usually hairless, but may have tubercules, spines, or humps (Scoble 1995), and often rest with both ends raised. The last set of prolegs is frequently vestigial, or may be long, with glands that can be everted. Some larvae undergo shape modification and colour changes with each instar (Weller, 1992). Notodontid larvae are notable for their often bizarre shapes, and some have chemical defenses (cyanic acid, formic acid, and other ketones: Blum, 1981) not commonly found in other Lepidoptera (Weller 1992). Schizura unicornis and S. badia have a mixture of formic acid, acetic acid and other compounds which they spray accurately at their attacker (Attygalle et al., 1993).
The larvae of some species are truly extraordinary: That of the Puss Moth has a fearsome-looking "face" and two long whip-like "tails" (actually highly modified proleg
s) and it rears both ends in a threatening display when disturbed. The larva of the Lobster Moth
is even more remarkable, resembling a crustacean
. Others, such as Cerura vinula try to mimic the edge of a leaf that has been damaged and is turning brown (they rest and feed along the edge of the leaf).
Most are solitary feeders, but some are gregarious, and this is most common in the processionary moths, Thaumetopoeinae.
They feed on tree
s and shrub
s, except in the subfamily Dioptinae, which feed on herbaceous plants (Miller, 1992). The larvae typically feed on only one family of trees, but closely related species will feed on distantly related plants; for example different members of the genus Datana feed on Juglandaceae
, Hamamelidaceae
, Ericaceae
and Anacardiaceae
(Miller 1992).
s on the metathorax that opens towards the top, and the tibial spurs have serrated edges (Scoble, 1995). Mouthparts vary from well-developed to absent. The Dioptinae, which was formerly considered a separate family, are colourful and fly by day, while the rest of the notodontids are nocturnal. Some of these Dioptinae have non-functional tympanal hearing organs which are normally defensive against bats (Fullard et al., 1997).
, the beech caterpillar, Quadricalcarifera punctatella, variable oakleaf caterpillar Lochmaeus manteo
, Epicerura pergisea, yellownecked caterpillars Datana ministra
, and walnut caterpillar Datana integerrima
, among others.
Apart from the subfamilies listed above, there are numerous notodontid genera
of uncertain relationships. These are:
Moth
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...
s with approximately 3,500 known species. Moths of this family are found in all parts of the world, but they are most concentrated in tropical areas, especially in the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
(Miller, 1992). The Thaumetopoeidae
Thaumetopoeidae
Thaumetopoeidae is a small family of moths in the order Lepidoptera. The genera in this family have been historically treated as a subfamily within Notodontidae instead....
(processionary moths) are sometimes included here as a subfamily.
Species of this family tend to be heavy-bodied and long-winged, the wings held folded across the back of the body at rest. They rarely display any bright colours, usually being mainly grey or brown, with the exception of the Dioptinae subfamily (Grimaldi and Engel, 2005). These features mean they rather resemble Noctuidae
Noctuidae
The Noctuidae or owlet moths are a family of robustly-built moths that includes more than 35,000 known species out of possibly 100,000 total, in more than 4,200 genera. They constitute the largest family in the Lepidoptera....
although the families are not closely related. The adults do not feed. Many species have a tuft of hair on the trailing edge of the forewing which protrudes upwards at rest. This gives them the common name of prominents. The common names of some other species reflect their hairiness, such as Puss Moth
Cerura vinula
The Puss Moth is a lepidopteran from the family Notodontidae.The moth can be found in Europe and North Africa. It has a wingspan of 58 to 75 mm. The moth survives the winter as a Pupa in a very solid, wood reinforced cocoon, attached to a tree or pole.The host plants of the moth are the willow and...
and the group commonly known as kittens (Furcula
Furcula (moth)
Furcula is a genus of moths of the Notodontidae family.-Species:*Furcula bicuspis *Furcula furcula *Furcula bifida *Furcula aeruginosa *Furcula tibetana Schintlmeister, 1998...
spp.), so named as they resemble small versions of the Puss Moth.
Larvae
The caterpillarCaterpillar
Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...
s are usually hairless, but may have tubercules, spines, or humps (Scoble 1995), and often rest with both ends raised. The last set of prolegs is frequently vestigial, or may be long, with glands that can be everted. Some larvae undergo shape modification and colour changes with each instar (Weller, 1992). Notodontid larvae are notable for their often bizarre shapes, and some have chemical defenses (cyanic acid, formic acid, and other ketones: Blum, 1981) not commonly found in other Lepidoptera (Weller 1992). Schizura unicornis and S. badia have a mixture of formic acid, acetic acid and other compounds which they spray accurately at their attacker (Attygalle et al., 1993).
Proleg
A Proleg is the small fleshy, stub structure found on the ventral surface of the abdomen of most larval forms of insects of the order Lepidoptera, though they can also be found on other larval insects such as sawflies and a few types of flies....
s) and it rears both ends in a threatening display when disturbed. The larva of the Lobster Moth
Lobster Moth
The Lobster Moth is a moth from the family Notodontidae. The moth has a wingspan ranging from 40 to 70 millimetres and varies in color from grey to green and brown....
is even more remarkable, resembling a crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
. Others, such as Cerura vinula try to mimic the edge of a leaf that has been damaged and is turning brown (they rest and feed along the edge of the leaf).
Most are solitary feeders, but some are gregarious, and this is most common in the processionary moths, Thaumetopoeinae.
They feed on tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s and shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
s, except in the subfamily Dioptinae, which feed on herbaceous plants (Miller, 1992). The larvae typically feed on only one family of trees, but closely related species will feed on distantly related plants; for example different members of the genus Datana feed on Juglandaceae
Juglandaceae
The Juglandaceae, also known as the Walnut Family, is a family of trees, or sometimes shrubs, in the order Fagales. Various members of this family are native to the Americas, Eurasia, and Southeast Asia....
, Hamamelidaceae
Hamamelidaceae
The Hamamelidaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Saxifragales, including 27 genera and about 80-90 species, all shrubs and small trees...
, Ericaceae
Ericaceae
The Ericaceae, commonly known as the heath or heather family, is a group of mostly calcifuge flowering plants. The family is large, with roughly 4000 species spread across 126 genera, making it the 14th most speciose family of flowering plants...
and Anacardiaceae
Anacardiaceae
Anacardiaceae are a family of flowering plants bearing fruits that are drupes and in some cases producing urushiol, an irritant. Anacardiaceae include numerous genera with several of economic importance. Notable plants in this family include cashew , mango, poison ivy, sumac, smoke tree, and marula...
(Miller 1992).
Adults
Adults have tympanal organTympanal organ
A tympanal organ is a hearing organ in insects, consisting of a membrane stretched across a frame backed by an air sac and associated sensory neurons...
s on the metathorax that opens towards the top, and the tibial spurs have serrated edges (Scoble, 1995). Mouthparts vary from well-developed to absent. The Dioptinae, which was formerly considered a separate family, are colourful and fly by day, while the rest of the notodontids are nocturnal. Some of these Dioptinae have non-functional tympanal hearing organs which are normally defensive against bats (Fullard et al., 1997).
Importance
Some notodontids cause noticeable defoliation of their hosts. Well-known defoliators include: the saddled prominent Heterocampa guttivita, poplar defoliator Clostera cupreata , California oakworm Phryganidia californicaPhryganidia californica
The California Oakworm or California Oak Moth is a moth of the Notodontidae family. It is found along the coasts of California and Oregon.The wingspan is about 30 mm. They are tan to gray moths with prominent wing veins....
, the beech caterpillar, Quadricalcarifera punctatella, variable oakleaf caterpillar Lochmaeus manteo
Lochmaeus manteo
The Variable Oakleaf Caterpillar Moth is a moth of the Notodontidae family. It is found in eastern North America.The wingspan is 37-50 mm. Adults are on wing from April to October....
, Epicerura pergisea, yellownecked caterpillars Datana ministra
Datana ministra
The Yellownecked Caterpillar is a moth of the Notodontidae family. It is found in southern Canada and the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, in the south-west it ranges to California....
, and walnut caterpillar Datana integerrima
Datana integerrima
The Walnut Caterpillar Moth is a moth of the Notodontidae family. It is found in eastern North America, from Ontario, through most of the Eastern States west to Minnesota and south to northern Mexico....
, among others.
Systematics
Notable species are:- Buff-tipBuff-tipThe Buff-tip is a moth of the family Notodontidae. It is found throughout Europe.This is a fairly large, heavy bodied species with a wingspan of 55-68 mm. The forewings are grey with a large prominent buff patch at the apex. As the thoracic hair is also buff, the moth looks remarkably like a...
(Phalera bucephala) - Puss MothCerura vinulaThe Puss Moth is a lepidopteran from the family Notodontidae.The moth can be found in Europe and North Africa. It has a wingspan of 58 to 75 mm. The moth survives the winter as a Pupa in a very solid, wood reinforced cocoon, attached to a tree or pole.The host plants of the moth are the willow and...
(Cerura vinulaCerura vinulaThe Puss Moth is a lepidopteran from the family Notodontidae.The moth can be found in Europe and North Africa. It has a wingspan of 58 to 75 mm. The moth survives the winter as a Pupa in a very solid, wood reinforced cocoon, attached to a tree or pole.The host plants of the moth are the willow and...
) - Lobster MothLobster MothThe Lobster Moth is a moth from the family Notodontidae. The moth has a wingspan ranging from 40 to 70 millimetres and varies in color from grey to green and brown....
(Stauropus fagiLobster MothThe Lobster Moth is a moth from the family Notodontidae. The moth has a wingspan ranging from 40 to 70 millimetres and varies in color from grey to green and brown....
) - Poplar KittenPoplar KittenThe Poplar Kitten is a moth of the family Notodontidae. It is distributed throughout Europe.This species has white forewings with a broad brown band in the centre and brown dots along the margin. The hindwings are also white with brown dots along the margin. The wingspan is 44-48 mm...
(Furcula bifida) - Coxcomb ProminentCoxcomb ProminentThe Coxcomb Prominent is a moth of the family Notodontidae. It is a common species throughout Europe.This species has brown forewings, varying considerably in tone, with indistinct darker markings. The hindwings are buffish with a black spot at the tornus...
(Ptilodon capucina) - Rough ProminentRough ProminentThe Rough Prominent is a moth of the family Notodontidae, possibly in the subfamily Notodontidae. It is also known as the White-dotted Prominent and the Tawny Prominent. This common moth is found across North America from the northern boreal forests to as far south as Florida. It is most common in...
(Nadata gibbosa)
Apart from the subfamilies listed above, there are numerous notodontid genera
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of uncertain relationships. These are:
External links
- Family Notodontidae at Lepidoptera.pro
- azalea caterpillar, Datana major on the UFUniversity of FloridaThe University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
/ IFASInstitute of Food and Agricultural SciencesThe University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is a federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences, and enhancing and sustaining the quality of human life by making that information...
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