Family LECITHOCERIDAE

Lecithoceridae

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Introduction

[After Common in Nielsen et al. (1996: 116)].
The members of this family were originally referred to the Gelechiidae (e.g. Meyrick 1904, Fletcher 1929, Diakonoff 1954b), and were separated as a subfamily Lecithocerinae of the Gelechiidae by Le Marchand (1947). A large group of genera, including Lecithocera Herrich-Schäffer and Timyra Walker, previously referred to the Gelechiidae, were treated by Clarke (1965) as a separate family Timyridae, a junior synonym of of Lecithoceridae. However, Hodges (1978) reassigned the Lecithoceridae to the Gelechiidae as a subfamily. Park (2015) erected a new subfamily for Aprosoesta Turner, Lamprista Park, Pacificulla Park, Hannara Park, and Gonaepa Walker.

Gozmàny (1978) revised the Palaearctic fauna of Lecithoceridae, but there has been no taxonomic revision of the Australian species. Forty-seven described species of Lecithoceridae in eight genera are known from Australia, but numerous undescribed species are known. Most of the species occur in the northern half of the continent and have close affinities with the fauna of south-east Asia and New Guinea. The known larvae feed on dead plant material, and the few Australian species which have been fed on eucalypt leaf litter or, less frequently, leaf litter beneath Kunzea or detritus in grass tussocks. The larvae are unusual in the Gelechioidea in having dense, often minutely branched secondary setae (Common 1990).

General References

Clarke, J.F.G. 1965. Catalogue of the Type Specimens of Microlepidoptera in the British Museum (Natural History) described by Edward Meyrick. London : British Museum (Natural History) Vol. 5 581 pp.

Common, I.F.B. 1990. Moths of Australia. Carlton : Melbourne University Press vi+535 pp., 32 pls.

Common, I.F.B. 1996. Lecithoceridae. pp. 116-117 in Nielsen, E.S., Edwards, E.D. & Rangsi, T.V. (eds). Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera. Collingwood : CSIRO Publishing Vol. 4 xiv 529 pp. & CD-ROM.

Diakonoff, A. 1954. Microlepidoptera of New Guinea. Results of the third Archbold Expedition (American-Netherlands Indian Expedition 1938-1939. Part 4. Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen [Verh. Akad. Amsterdam] 2 ser. 50(1): 1-191

Fletcher, T.B. 1929. A list of generic names used for Microlepidoptera. Memoirs of the Department of Agriculture, India Ent. 11: 1-244

Gozmány, L. 1978. Lecithoceridae. In, Amsel, H.G., Reisser, H. & Gregor, F. (eds). Microlepidoptera Palaearctica 5. Wien : Verlag Georg Fromme & Co. Vol. 5 xxviii + 306 pp., 93 pls.

Hodges, R.W. 1978. Gelechioidea: Cosmopterigidae. In, Dominick, R.B. et al. (eds). The Moths of America North of Mexico. London : E.W. Classey Limited & R.B.D. Publications Inc. Vol. 6.1 166+x pp., 6 pls.

Le Marchand, S. 1947. Les Tineina Gelechiidae. Revue Française de Lépidoptérologie 11: 145-163

Meyrick, E. 1904. Descriptions of Australian Micro-lepidoptera. XVIII. Gelechiadae. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 29: 255-441

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