Agathiphaga

Agathiphaga
Agathiphaga vitiensis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Suborder: Aglossata
Speidel, 1977
Superfamily: Agathiphagoidea
N. P. Kristensen, 1967
Family: Agathiphagidae
N. P. Kristensen, 1967
Genus: Agathiphaga
Dumbleton, 1952
Species

Agathiphaga is a genus of moths, known as kauri moths. and is the only living genus in the family Agathiphagidae. This caddisfly-like lineage of primitive moths was first reported by Lionel Jack Dumbleton in 1952, as a new genus of Micropterigidae.[1]

The caterpillars feed only on "kauri" (Agathis) and are currently considered the second most primitive living lineage of moths after Micropterigoidea.[2] The larvae have been reported to be able to survive for 12 years in diapause,[3] durability possibly a prerequisite to its possible dispersion around the Pacific islands in the seeds of Agathis.

Dumbleton described two species. Agathiphaga queenslandensis is found along the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia, and its larvae feed on Agathis robusta.[4] Agathiphaga vitiensis is found from Fiji to Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, and its larvae feed on Agathis vitiensis.

A fossil member of Agathiphagidae, Agathiphagama, is known from the Burmese amber of Myanmar, dating to the early Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, approximately 99 million years ago.[5]

  1. ^ Lionel Jack Dumbleton (1952). "A new genus of seed-infesting micropterygid moths" (PDF). Pacific Science. 6: 17–29. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-01-19. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  2. ^ N. P. Kristensen (1999). "The non-Glossatan moths". In N. P. Kristensen (ed.). Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies Volume 1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Handbook of Zoology. A Natural History of the phyla of the Animal Kingdom. Volume IV Arthropoda: Insecta Part 35. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 41–49.
  3. ^ M. S. Upton (1997). "A twelve-year larval diapause in the Queensland kauri moth, Agathiphaga queenslandiae Dumbleton (Lepidoptera: Agathiphagidae)". The Entomologist. 116: 142–143.
  4. ^ "Species Agathiphaga queenslandensis Dumbleton, 1952". Australian Faunal Directory. Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. October 9, 2008. Archived from the original on April 5, 2011. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
  5. ^ Mey, Wolfram; Léger, Théo; Lien, Vu Van (2021-10-03). "New taxa of extant and fossil primitive moths in South-East Asia and their biogeographic significance (Lepidoptera, Micropterigidae, Agathiphagidae, Lophocoronidae)". Nota Lepidopterologica. 44(): 29–56. doi:10.3897/nl.44.52350. ISSN 2367-5365. Archived from the original on 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2024-05-17.