Agathiphaga Explained

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]

External links

• • • • Agathiphagidae Tree of Life Web Project
• Web site: Agathiphaga queenslandensis Dumbleton, 1952 . CSIRO Entomology . Australian Moths Online . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20060903171221/http://www.ento.csiro.au/gallery/moths/Agathiphagaqueenslandensis/agathiphaga_queenslandensis_01 . 2006-09-03 .

Notes and References

1. Lionel Jack Dumbleton . Lionel Jack Dumbleton . 1952 . A new genus of seed-infesting micropterygid moths . . 6 . 17–29 . 2010-08-31 . 2021-01-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210119015000/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/8753/1/vol6n1-17-29.pdf . live .
2. Book: N. P. Kristensen . 1999 . The non-Glossatan moths . 41–49 . N. P. Kristensen . 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.
3. M. S. Upton . 1997 . A twelve-year larval diapause in the Queensland kauri moth, Agathiphaga queenslandiae Dumbleton (Lepidoptera: Agathiphagidae) . . 116 . 142–143.
4. Web site: Species Agathiphaga queenslandensis Dumbleton, 1952 . . October 9, 2008 . . August 31, 2010 . April 5, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110405014327/http://environment.gov.au/biodiversity/abrs/online-resources/fauna/afd/taxa/Agathiphaga_queenslandensis . live .
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. en. 44. 29–56. 10.3897/nl.44.52350. 2367-5365. free. 2024-05-17. 2021-06-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20210624195250/https://nl.pensoft.net/article/52350/. live.