Exoporia

Abstract: The endemic Australian primitive moth family Lophocoronidae is reviewed. The family was previously known from three species represented by male 'museum' specimens only. The family now consists of one genus, Lophocorona Common, with six species of which three (L. robinsoni, L. commoni and L. flavicosta) are here described as new. L. robinsoni differs markedly from the remaining species in wing pattern and phenology, but all species have very similar male genitalia. Females of two species (L. robinsoni and L. commoni) are described. All species and parts of their male genitalia are illustrated; a key to all species is given. All new distribution records are listed and the known Australian range of the family now extends from east of Perth to south of Sydney. Lophocoronid structure is surveyed, including information on aspects of the soft anatomy of L. pediasia Common: cephalic, spiracular, abdominal base and male genital musculature, male internal genitalia, alimentary canal, gross structure of the central nervous system (CNS) and thoracic aorta. The most significant findings include the following: extrinsic labral muscles are absent; the relatively well-developed mandibles have no musculature, hence the (unknown) lophocoronid pupa must be adecticous; there is no intrinsic proboscis musculature; the posterolateral comer of the laterocervicale covers the anepisternal tooth; an anterior pronotal plate is present; the mesobasistemum is markedly produced anteriorly; wingsurface scales are largely hollow; a sizeable metapostphragma is present; the female has a piercing oviscapt similar to that of Eriocraniidae and Acanthopteroctetidae; a stomodaeal crop is well developed, extending into the abdomen, and followed by a narrow tubular portion in front of the mesenteron; there are four malpighian tubules, each opening into the gut; the deutocerebral lobes meet in front of the posterionnost pharyngeal sucking pump dilator (forming a 'deutocerebral loop'); the abdominal nerve cord has five ganglionic masses and thick connective tissue on top; the metathoracic aorta touches the dorsal pulsatile diaphragm. Six basal clades are recognised within the Lepidoptera-Glossata: (1) Eriocraniidae, (2) Acanthopteroctetidae (including Catapterix), (3) Lophocoronidae, (4) Neopseustidae, (5) Exoporia and (6) Heteroneura. Putative autapomorphies are listed and discussed for each. Several structural traits are compared throughout the six clades, and 47 potentially phylogenetically informative characters are identified (Appendices 1 and 2). Analysis of these characters with Hennig86, by using a hypothetical ancestor (reconstructed on the basis of character state distribution within the non-glossatan moth grade), yields a single shortest tree: Eriocraniidae + (Acanthopteroctetidae + (Lophocoronidae + (Neopseustidae + (Exoporia + Heteroneura)))). This tree is compared with a number of competing trees; it is concluded to be the most biologically meaningful one. The formal classification of the Glossata is discussed. The Acanthopteroctetidae are assigned to a superfamily of their own. Redundant taxon names above familygroup (Dacnonypha, Lophocoronina and Neopseustina) are discarded. The new name Coelolepida is introduced for the high-rank taxon comprising all Glossata except the Eriocraniidae; it is characterised primarily by the acquisition of hollow wing-surface scales and an apomorphic configuration of the first thoracic spiracle. Some ecological and conservation-related implications of the new insights in glossatan phylogeny are outlined.

Abstract: Agreement among recent morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses has strengthened estimates of the relationships among the earliest lineages of the holometabolan order Lepidoptera. For a few major groups, evidence for monophyly and basal relationships remains relatively weak or contradictory — chiefly within the clades of basal Glossata and Heteroneura. Here we assess the support for these controversial areas of lepidopteran classification through molecular systematic investigation of 18S rDNA sequence variation. Parsimony and maximum likelihood analyses are presented for 1379 alignable sites of 18S. These data are then combined with 61 morphological features scored for major lineages of basal Glossata and Heteroneura. Our 18S rDNA data support recent hypotheses for the placement of Micropterigidae and Agathiphagidae as the basal-most lineages of Lepidoptera, and support the monophyly of the groups Neolepidoptera and Exoporia. 18S data alone are shown to be insufficient for resolving the monophyly and relationships of the Glossata, and for specifying relationships above the Neolepidoptera. Combination of the 18S data with published morphological ground-plan scorings improves overall support for the morphology-based hypothesis for basal glossatans, but phylogenetic resolution among published alternatives for the basal Heteroneura remains a major question for lepidopteran systematics.

Abstract: Adopting the cladistic method in comparative embryology, 27 embryonic characters were analyzed to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships among the lepidopteran and trichopteran suborders, viz., Annulipalpia, Integripalpia, Zeugloptera, Dacnonypha, Exoporia, Monotrysia, and Ditrysia. The resultant cladogram is basically coincident with that proposed by Kristensen. The order Trichoptera and Lepidoptera constitute a monophyletic group on the basis of one synapomorphy, the presence of well developed silk glands in embryos. The Trichoptera are separable from the Lepidoptera by the states of four characters. The Trichoptera, as a whole, are quite homogenous, and embryological data provide no rational ground for the separation of this order into the Annulipalpia and Integripalpia at a subordinal level. On the contrary, the embryonic development of the Lepidoptera becomes divergent from the most primitive condition to a specialized one according to suborders. The Zeugloptera are the sister group of all other Lepidoptera, because they share two apomorphies with the latter. The Dacnonypha are the most primitive next to the Zeugloptera, and have a sister-group relationship with the Exoporia + (Monotrysia + Ditrysia), being held together with the latter by five synapomorphies. Although the Exoporia retain almost as many plesiomorphic characters as the Dacnonypha, they have a sister-group relationship with the Monotrysia + Ditrysia, as inferred on the basis of two synapomorphies. The Monotrysia and Ditrysia have a sistergroup relationship, and are the most advanced groups in the Lepidoptera judging from their shared acquisition of many apomorphic characters.

Abstract: The monobasic Colombian genus Osrhoes is redescribed on the basis of the male holotype and a female paratype of O. coronta Druce, 1900. Osrhoes is unique among the exoporian moths so far known in having a long internal duct from the ductus bursae to a chamber adjacent to the ovipore, a functional analogy of the 'ductus seminalis' of ditrysian Lepidoptera; the subgenital plates are very large and completely fused in the midline, i.e., there is no 'intergenital cleft'. Strong reasons for retaining Osrhoes in the non-ditrysian grade are the homoneurous venation and large forewing jugal lobe, while apomorphies supporting its assignment to the Exoporia-Hepialoidea include, e.g. its elongate intercalary sclerite, postapical Rs3, male genitalia with typical hepialoid hinged juxta/trulleum complex and lack of sclerotized phallus. The absence of inter-M crossveins and the extreme reduction of the maxillae are currently considered diagnostic traits of the family Palaeosetidae, which is otherwise represented by three small Australasian genera. The wing proportions and absence of a forewing 'anal loop' in Osrhoes probably also indicate relationships to palaeosetids. Although the status of the crossvein character as an apomorphy is debatable, it is preferred at present to uphold the tentative assignment of Osrhoes to the Palaeosetidae.