Monotrysia Explained

The Monotrysia are a group of moths in the lepidopteran order, not currently considered to be a natural group or clade.^[1] The group is so named because the female has a single genital opening for mating and laying eggs, in contrast to the rest of the Lepidoptera (Ditrysia), which have two female reproductive openings.^{[1] [2]} Later classifications used Monotrysia in a narrower sense for the nonditrysian Heteroneura, but this group was also found to be paraphyletic with respect to Ditrysia.^[1] Apart from the recently discovered family Andesianidae,^{[3] [4]} most of the group consists of small, relatively understudied species.

Further reading

• Davis D. R. (1999). The Monotrysian Heteroneura. Pages 65–90 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.

External links

• Neolepidoptera

Notes and References

1. Kristensen . Neils P. . Scoble . Malcolm J . Karsholt . Ole . 2007 . Lepidoptera phylogeny and systematics: the state of inventorying moth and butterfly diversity . Zootaxa . 1668 . 699–747 . 10.11646/zootaxa.1668.1.30 .
2. Dugdale, J.S. (1974). Female genital classification in the classification of Lepidoptera. New Zealand Journal of Entomology, 1(2): 127-146. pdf
3. Davis . D. R. . 1986 . A new family of monotrysian moths from austral South America (Lepidoptera: Palaephatidae), with a phylogenetic review of the Monotrysia. . Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology . 434 . 1-202 .
4. Davis, D. R. and Gentili, P. (2003). Andesianidae, a new family of monotrysian moths (Lepidoptera: Andesianoidea) from South America. Invertebrate Systematics, 17: 15-26.Abstract