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Lycaenidae
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The Lycaenidae as construed here includes the blues, coppers and hairstreaks, but not the metalmarks, which are viewed as a sister-family Riodinidae, based on the combined phylogenetic analysis of morphological and molecular data by Wahlberg et al. (2005). The vast majority of lycaenids are in the clade that includes the blues (Polyommatinae), coppers (Lycaeninae) and hairstreaks (Theclinae). Eliot (who viewed these taxa as tribes of a more inclusive Lycaeninae in Corbet et al. 1992) implied that Aphnaeinae is the sister group to the other three subfamilies based on characters of the larval head capsule.
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Source | http://tolweb.org/Lycaenidae/12175 |
Animal / parasitoid / endoparasitoid
larva of Aplomya confinis is endoparasitoid of larva of Lycaenidae
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One species in Michigan is considered endangered. It is Lycaeides melissa samuelis, the Karner Blue. Scientists are still not sure if it is just a subspecies of a more common species, or if it is a completely separate species. The Karner Blue only exists in a few small populations scattered from Minnesota to New York. It needs dry pine-oak barrens to live in, and only feeds on one kind of plants (lupines, genus Lupinus). This habitat has mostly been converted into agricultural fields, and is hard to find.
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Source | http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Lycaenidae/ |
Lycaenidae (Gossamer-Winged Butterflies)
These are small butterflies with iridescent colors. The three most important subfamilies are the Hairstreaks (Theclinae), Coppers (Lycaeninae), and Blues (Polyommotinae). Butterflies in this family often visit composite flowers (Asteraceae) and small wildflowers from other families. Theclinae (Hairstreaks): These butterflies are silvery grey with rows of red or blue dots on the wing undersides, while the uppersides (exposed when the wings are outstretched) are a drab gray, brown, or black. Sometimes there is a small tail on each hindwing. The caterpillars feed on various trees and shrubs, including willows, wild cherries, hawthorns, oaks, hickories, and sumac. The species Strymon melinus (Gray Hairstreak), also feeds on some herbaceous plants, such as Mallows and Smartweeds. Lycaeninae (Coppers): These butterflies are orange and silvery gray with scattered black dots on the wing undersides. The uppersides have vivid orange and black patterns, although they are sometimes greyish or purplish in overall appearance. The larvae feed primarily on Rumex spp. (Dock) and Polygonum spp. (Smartweed and Knotweed). Polyommotinae (Blues): The Blues are silvery grey, or blue on the wing undersides, with rows of black dots and a patch of orange on the hindwings. The wing uppersides are silvery blue with white or black edges. Some species have small tails on the hind wings, and females are sometimes gray on the uppersides. The caterpillars of Blues usually feed on legumes, although the caterpillars of Celastrina argiolus (Spring/Summer Azure) feed on various small trees and shrubs, including Dogwood, Wild Cherry, Sumac, New Jersey Tea, and Viburnum. The caterpillars of Blues often secrete a honey dew that attracts ants.
- Hilty, J. Editor. 2015. Insect Visitors of Illinois Wildflowers. World Wide Web electronic publication. illinoiswildflowers.info, version (06/2015)
See: Abbreviations for Insect Activities, Abbreviations for Scientific Observers, References for behavioral observations
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Source | http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/flower_insects/files/lepidoptera.htm |
These butterflies communicate mainly with their scent and their colors. Males attract mates with scent and display, and females leave a scent mark on plants where they have laid eggs.
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Source | http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Lycaenidae/ |
These butterflies don't have strong effects on people one way or another. A few species sometimes eat crop plants but this is not common and they rarely do enough damage to matter.
Negative Impacts: crop pest
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Source | http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Lycaenidae/ |
There are nearly 5,000 species in this family around the world, but most only live in the tropics. We only have about 145 in the United States, and 32 species in Michigan.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native ); palearctic (Native ); oriental (Native ); ethiopian (Native ); neotropical (Native ); australian (Native ); antarctica (Native ); oceanic islands (Native )
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Source | http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Lycaenidae/ |
Like all Moths and Butterflies, this family has complete metamorphosis. See More Information on Butterflies and Moths for an explanation of this. Some species in this group spin cocoons, others don't but the pupae attach themselves to plant stems with silk. Different species overwinter in different stages, usually larvae or pupae, rarely eggs and never as adults.
Development - Life Cycle: metamorphosis
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Rights holder/Author | ©1995-2012, The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors |
Source | http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Lycaenidae/ |
Lycaenidae is the second-largest family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 5,000 species worldwide,[1] whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of the known butterfly species.
The family is traditionally divided into the subfamilies of the blues (Polyommatinae), the coppers (Lycaeninae), the hairstreaks (Theclinae) and the harvesters (Miletinae); others include the Lipteninae, Liphyrinae, Curetinae and Poritiinae, but some authorities also include the family Riodinidae within the Lycaenidae[citation needed].
Adults are small, under 5 cm usually, and brightly coloured, sometimes with a metallic gloss.
Larvae are often flattened rather than cylindrical, with glands that may produce secretions that attract and subdue ants. Their cuticles tend to be thickened. Some larva are capable of producing vibrations and low sounds that are transmitted through the substrates they inhabit. They use these sounds to communicate with ants.[2][3]
Adult individuals often have hairy antenna-like tails complete with black and white annulated appearance. Many species also have a spot at the base of the tail and some turn around upon landing to confuse potential predators from recognizing the true head orientation. This causes predators to approach from the true head end resulting in early visual detection.[4]
Ecology[edit]
Lycaenids are diverse in their food habits and apart from phytophagy, some of them are entomophagous feeding on aphids, scale insects, and ant larvae. Some Lycaenids even exploit their association with ants by inducing ants to feed them by regurgitation, a process called trophallaxis. Not all Lycaenid butterflies need ants, but about 75% of species associate with ants,[2] a relationship called myrmecophily. These associations can be mutualistic, parasitic, or predatory depending on the species.
In some species, larvae are attended and protected by ants while feeding on the host plant, and the ants receive sugar-rich honeydew from them, throughout the larval life, and in some species during the pupal stage. In other species, only the first few instars are spent on the plant, and the remainder of the larval lifespan is spent as a predator within the ant nest. It becomes a parasite, feeding on ant regurgitations, or a predator on the ant larvae.[2] The caterpillars pupate inside the ant's nest and the ants continue to look after the pupa. Just before the adult emerges the wings of the butterfly inside the pupal case detach from it, and the pupa becomes silvery. The adult butterfly emerges from the pupa after three to four weeks, still inside the ant nest. The butterfly must crawl out of the ant nest before it can expand its wings.
Several evolutionary adaptations enable these associations and they include small glands on the skin of the caterpillars called "pore cupola organs". Caterpillars of many species, except those of the Riodininae, have a gland on the seventh abdominal segment that produces honey dew and is called the "dorsal nectary gland" (also called "Newcomer's gland"). An eversible organ called the "tentacular organ" is present on the eighth abdominal segment (third segment of thorax in the Riodininae) and this is cylindrical and topped with a ring of spikes and emits chemical signals which are believed to help in communicating with ants.[5]
Subfamilies[edit]
Many taxonomists include only the Lycaeninae, Theclinae, Polyommatinae, Poritiinae, Miletinae and Curetinae under the Lycaenidae.[6][7]
The tribe Aphnaeini of the subfamily Theclinae which includes the genus Chrysoritis is sometimes listed as separate subfamily.[6]
A few authorities still include the family Riodinidae within the Lycaenidae. The monotypic former subfamily Styginae represented by Styx infernalis from the Peruvian Andes has been placed within the subfamily Euselasiinae[8] of the family Riodinidae.[9]
Other classifications notably include the Riodininae (e.g., Abisara echerius).[10]
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Phylogeny of the family.[9] |
- Lipteninae (Afrotropical) may be ranked as a tribe of Poritiinae. (Liptenini) [11]
- Poritiinae (Oriental and Afrotropical)
- Liphyrinae (mostly African, some Asian) may be ranked as a tribe of Miletinae. (Liphyrini) [12] Selected species
- Liphyra brassolis – moth butterfly (largest lycaenid)
- Miletinae – harvesters (mostly African, or Oriental, some Holarctic). Probably all feed on aphids or their secretions.
- Curetinae – sunbeams (Oriental or Palaearctic) selected species
- Curetis thetis – Indian sunbeam
- Theclinae – hairstreaks (usually tailed) and elfins (not tailed) (global) may be ranked as a tribe of Lycaeninae (Theclini ) see the clade below right. Selected species
- Satyrium pruni – black hairstreak
- Atlides halesus – great purple hairstreak
- Eumaeus atala – Atala
- Arhopala - oakblues
- Lycaeninae – coppers (Holarctic) selected species
- Lycaena boldenarum – boulder copper
- Lycaena epixanthe – bog copper
- Lycaena rauparaha – Rauparaha’s copper
- Lycaena dispar – large copper
- Lycaena phlaeas – small copper
- Iophanus pyrrhias – Guatemalan copper
- Polyommatinae – blues (global) selected species
- Caleta spp.
- Celastrina ladon – spring azure
- Talicada nyseus – red pierrot
- Cupido comyntas – Eastern tailed-blue
- Cupido minimus – small blue
- Pseudozizeeria maha – pale grass blue
- Euphilotes battoides allyni – El Segundo blue
- Euphilotes pallescens arenamontana – Sand Mountain blue
- Chilades - jewel blues
- Plebejus argus – silver-studded blue
- Icaricia icarioides fenderi – Fender's blue
- Polyommatus icarus – common blue
- Polyommatus semiargus – mazarine blue
- Glaucopsyche lygdamus – silvery blue
- Glaucopsyche lygdamus palosverdesensis – Palos Verdes blue
- Glaucopsyche xerces (extinct) – Xerces blue
- Phengaris xiushani
- Maculinea arion – large blue
The fossil genus Lithodryas is usually (but not unequivocally) placed here; Lithopsyche is sometimes placed here but sometimes in the Riodininae.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Fiedler, K. 1996. Host-plant relationships of lycaenid butterflies: large-scale patterns, interactions with plant chemistry, and mutualism with ants. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 80(1):259-267 doi:10.1007/BF00194770 [1]
- ^ a b c Pierce NE, Braby MF, Heath A, Lohman DJ, Mathew J, Rand DB, Travassos MA. 2002. The ecology and evolution of ant association in the Lycaenidae (Lepidoptera.) Annual Review of Entomology 47: 733-771. PDF
- ^ DeVries, Philip J. 1992. Singing Caterpillars, Ants and Symbiosis. Scientific American, 267:76
- ^ Robbins, Robert K. 1981 The "False Head" Hypothesis: Predation and Wing Pattern Variation of Lycaenid Butterflies. American Naturalist, 118(5):770-775
- ^ Australian Museum factsheets Accessed 4 November 2010 on the Wayback Machine.
- ^ a b Brower, Andrew V. Z. 2008. Lycaenidae. Version 25 April 2008 (temporary). [2] in The Tree of Life Web Project, [3]
- ^ 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.
- ^ Hall J.P.W. & Harvey DJ. (2002) A survey of androconial organs in the Riodinidae (Lepidoptera). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 136:171-197
- ^ a b Brower, Andrew V. Z. 2007. Riodinidae Grote 1895. Metalmarks, Erycinidae Swainson 1827 (see nomenclature section). Version 19 May 2007 [4] in The Tree of Life Web Project, [5]
- ^ Scoble, MJ. 1992. The Lepidoptera: Form, Function and Diversity. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-854952-0
- ^ [6], Site of Markku Savela
- ^ [7], Site of Markku Savela
Further reading[edit]
- Charles A. Bridges, 1994. Catalogue of the family-group, genus-group and species-group names of the Riodinidae & Lycaenidae (Lepidoptera) of the world Urbana, Ill. :C.A. Bridges pdf
- Eliot, J.N.1973 The higher classification of the Lycaenidae] (Lepidoptera): a tentative arrangement. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), entomology, 28: 371-505. 1973: [8]
- Glassberg, Jeffrey Butterflies through Binoculars, The West (2001)
- Guppy, Crispin S. and Shepard, Jon H. Butterflies of British Columbia (2001)
- James, David G. and Nunnallee, David Life Histories of Cascadia Butterflies (2011)
- Pelham, Jonathan Catalogue of the Butterflies of the United States and Canada (2008)
- Pyle, Robert Michael The Butterflies of Cascadia (2002)
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Source | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lycaenidae&oldid=646492177 |
Geographic Range:
Nearctic, Palearctic, Oriental, Ethiopian, Neotropical, Australian, Oceanic Island
Geographic Range description:
Cosmopolitan distribution, including species endemic to New Zealand, Hawaii and many other Pacific islands). Greatest diversity in the tropics. From Scoble, 1992: The Lipeninae are Afrotropical. Poritiinae are Oriental. Liphyrinae are mainly African with a few species in the Oriental and Australasian regions. Miletinae occur mostly in Africa or the Orient, some are present in the Holarctic region. Curetinae are Oriental with a few Palaearctic representatives. Theclinae are represented in all the main zoogeographical areas. Lycaeninae occur mainly in the Holarctic region. Polyommatinae are represented in all major biogeographical areas.