Subfamily MUSOTIMINAE

Museums

Regional Maps

Introduction

[Modified after Shaffer et al. (1996: 167)]
Musotiminae are represented in Australia by 14 species, divided between 6 genera. The earliest native species was described by Guenée (1854).

Most of the studies of this poorly known subfamily have been done on the New World fauna. The group is distributed in all tropical areas. It is difficult to estimate the total number of described species as the group has not been clearly differentiated from the Nymphulinae and Pyraustinae in older literature and there have been insufficient recent studies. The world fauna probably consists of about 200 described species but unpublished research on the African genus Panotima Meyrick suggests the number of undescribed species is far higher. Except for the New World fauna all genera of the Musotiminae are in need of revision.

The group was described by Meyrick in 1884 as the family Musotimidae. The Musotiminae were recognised as a good subfamily by Minet ([1982]) and again in 1985 when he figured the distinctively large bullae tympani. Maes (1987) included the Musotiminae within the Nymphulinae. However, Common (1990) and Scoble (1992) treated Musotiminae as a distinct subfamily and this is followed here.

Larvae of this subfamily are thought to feed on ferns. Common (1990) reports that Musotima nitidalis and M. ochropteralis feed on maidenhair fern, Adiantum aethiopicum, sometimes causing defoliation.

The group closely resembles the Nymphulinae in external appearance, but the genitalia are fairly distinctive and the association with ferns in contrast to the Nymphulinae on aquatic plants also suggests a clear distinction.

General References

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

Guenée, A. 1854. Deltoïdes et Pyralites. In, Boisduval, J.-A. & Guenée, A. (eds). Histoire Naturelle des Insectes. Species Général des Lépidoptères. Paris : Librarie Encyclopédique de Roret Vol. 8 448 pp., 10 pls.

Maes, K. 1987. Een vergelijkende, morfologisch-systematische studie van de Pyralidae (Lepidoptera) met bijssondere aandacht voor de Pyrastinae. Gent : Ph.D. Thesis, Rijksuniversiteit.

Minet, J. 1982. Les Pyraloidea et leurs principales divisions systématiques (Lep. Ditrysia). Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France 86: 262-280 [year of publication 1981]

Scoble, M.J. 1992. The Lepidoptera. Form, Function and Diversity. Oxford : Natural History Museum Publications & Oxford University Press xi + 404 pp.

Shaffer, M., Nielsen, E.S. & Horak, M. 1996. Pyraloidea. pp. 164-199 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.

Turner, A.J. 1922. Studies in Australian Lepidoptera. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 35(1): 26-62

History of changes