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Papilionoidea Latreille 1802

True Butterflies

Andrew V. Z. Brower
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taxon links [up-->]Lycaenidae [up-->]Pieridae [up-->]Riodinidae [up-->]Nymphalidae [up-->]Papilionidae [down<--]Ditrysia Interpreting the tree
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Containing group: Ditrysia

Introduction

The "true" butterflies are composed of five families - Papilionidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae, Riodinidae and Lycaenidae. There are estimated to be some 13,700 species extant in the world (Robbins, 1982), distributed on every continent except Antarctica, and most remote oceanic islands as well. The greatest diversity occurs in tropical regions, particularly the neotropics.

Characteristics

Butterflies are commonly distinguished from "moths" (an enormous paraphyletic group of which butterflies represent a derived subclade) by their diurnal activity and their clubbed antennae. In general, most day-flying Lepidoptera are butterflies, but there are some crepuscular butterfly species that are rarely encountered during the daytime, and there are also many species of moths that are active during the day (e. g., Uraniidae, Zygaenidae, Castniidae, some Arctiidae and Sphingidae). In addition, it should be noted that some moth groups, such as Castniidae and Zygaenidae, also exhibit clubbed antennae!

Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships

The hypothesis of relationships presented here, based on a combination of morphological and DNA characters, has been repeatedly corroborated by numerous authors (Kristensen 1976, de Jong et al. 1996, Ackery et al. 1999, Wahlberg et al. 2005).

Other Names for Papilionoidea Latreille 1802

References

Ackery, P. R., R. de Jong, and R. I. Vane-Wright. 1999. The butterflies: Hedyloidea, Hesperioidea, and Papilionoidea. Pages 264-300 in: Lepidoptera: Moths and Butterflies. 1. Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Handbook of Zoology Vol. IV, Part 35. N. P. Kristensen, ed. De Gruyter, Berlin and New York.

Boggs, C. L., W. B. Watt, and P. R. Ehrlich, eds. 2003. Butterflies: Ecology and Evolution Taking Flight. University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London.

Campbell, D. L., A. V. Z. Brower, and N. E. Pierce. 2000. Molecular evolution of the wingless gene and its implications for the phylogenetic placement of the butterfly family Riodinidae (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea). Molecular Biology and Evolution 17(5):684-696.

de Jong, R., R. I. Vane-Wright, and P. R. Ackery. 1996. The higher classification of butterflies (Lepidoptera): problems and prospects. Entomologica Scandinavica 27(1):65-101.

Kristensen N. P. 1976. Remarks on the family-level phylogeny of butterflies (Insecta, Lepidoptera, Rhopalocera). Zeit. Zool. Syst. Evol. 14: 25-33.

Kristensen, N. P. and A. W. Skalski. 1999. Phylogeny and paleontology. Pages 7-25 in: Lepidoptera: Moths and Butterflies. 1. Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Handbook of Zoology Vol. IV, Part 35. N. P. Kristensen, ed. De Gruyter, Berlin and New York.

Minet, J. 1991. Tentative Reconstruction of the ditrysian phylogeny (Lepidiptera, Gloassata). Entomologica Scandinavica 22(1):69-95.

Paulus, H. F., and H. W. Krenn. 1996. Comparative morphology of the butterfly proboscis and its sensilla - A contribution to the phylogenetic systematics of Papilionoidea (Insecta, Lepidoptera). Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 34(4):203-216.

Robbins R. K. 1982. How many butterfly species? News Lepid. Soc. 1982: 40-41.

Wahlberg, N., M. F. Braby, A. V. Z. Brower, R. de Jong, M.-M. Lee, S. Nylin, N. E. Pierce, F. A. H. Sperling, R. Vila, A. D. Warren, and E. Zakharov. 2005. Synergistic effects of combining morphological and molecular data in resolving the phylogeny of butterflies and skippers. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B 272:1577-1586.

Weller, S. J. and D. P. Pashley. 1995. In seach of butterfly origins. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 4(3):235-246.

Information on the Internet

Title Illustrations
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Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

The five butterflies shown here represent the type species of the five butterfly families: Papilio machaon, Pieris brassicae, Riodina lysippus, Lycaena phlaeas and Nymphalis polychloros. All of these species were described by Linnaeus (1758).

Scientific Name Papilio machaon
Location Czech Republic: Blansko
Comments type species of Papilionoidea
Creator Michal Koup´y
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Identified By Michal Koup´y
Behavior puddling
Sex Male
Life Cycle Stage adult
View ventral
Source Old World Swallowtail Papilio Machaon
Source Collection BioLib.cz
Scientific Name Pieris brassicae
Location near Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire, England
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Source White Butterfly
Source Collection Flickr
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs License - Version 2.0.
Copyright © 2005 Paul Stevenson
Scientific Name Riodina lysippus
Location Brazil: Mato Grosso, Cristalino Lodge
Comments Type species of Riodinidae
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Identified By Gill Carter
Sex Male
Life Cycle Stage adult
View dorsal
Source Lysippus Metalmark (Riodina lysippus)
Source Collection Neotropical Butterflies
Copyright © 2006 Gill Carter
Scientific Name Lycaena phlaeas
Location Iwate, Japan
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Source Small Copper - ベニシジミ
Source Collection Flickr
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License - Version 2.0.
Copyright © 2006 Bruce the Moose
Scientific Name Nymphalis polychloros
Location Czech Republic: Blansko
Comments Type species of Nymphalidae
Creator Michal Koup´y
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Identified By Michal Koup´y
Sex Male
Life Cycle Stage adult
View dorsal
Source Large Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis polychloros)
Source Collection BioLib.cz
About This Page


Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Andrew V. Z. Brower at

Page: Tree of Life Papilionoidea Latreille 1802. True Butterflies. Authored by Andrew V. Z. Brower. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.

Citing this page:

Brower, Andrew V. Z. 2008. Papilionoidea Latreille 1802. True Butterflies. Version 07 October 2008 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Papilionoidea/12027/2008.10.07 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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