Superfamily PAPILIONOIDEA

Museums

Regional Maps

• HESPERIOIDEA.

Introduction

Van Nieukerken et al. (2011) and Simonsen et al. (2012) provide an updated review of the higher level systematics of the butterflies and have revised the higher classification. These papers were based on the extensive molecular phylogenies presented by Regier et al. (2009), Mutanen et al. (2010) and Heikkilä et al. (2012) which showed that the Papilionoidea are a paraphyletic entity. Van Nieukerken et al. (2011) and Simonsen et al. (2012) therefore assigned the Hesperioidea to the Papilionoidea and recognised only a single superfamily with seven families, six of which occur in Australia.

General References

Heikkilä, M, Kaila, L, Mutanen, M & Peña, CW, N. 2012. Cretaceous origin and repeated tertiary diversification of the redefined butterflies. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 279: 1093-1099

Mutanen, M, Wahlberg, N & Kaila, L. 2010. Comprehensive gene and taxon coverage elucidates radiation patterns in moths and butterflies. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 277: 2839-2848

Regier, J.C., Zwick, A., Cummings, M.P., et al. 2009. Toward reconstructing the evolution of advanced moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera: Ditrysia): an initial molecular study. BMC Evolutionary Biology 9: 280

Simonsen, TJ, de Jong, R, Heikkilä, M & Kaila, L. 2012. Butterfly morphology in a molecular age - does it still matter in butterfly systematics? Arthropod Structure & Development 41: 307-322

van Nieukerken, E.J. et al. 2011. Order Lepidoptera Linnaeus, 1758. pp. 212-221 in Zhang, Z.-Q. (Ed.). Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness. Zootaxa 3148

History of changes