Family RIODINIDAE Grote, 1895
Introduction
Riodinidae have tornus of hind wing rounded and weakly lobed towards termen; antennae relatively close together at base; radial vein of fore wing with all branches present, with R1 touching Sc for some distance before running separately to costa; males have only four normal functional legs, with fore legs reduced in size and tarsi fused into a single segment without claws; females have six normal functional legs, with fore tarsi five segmented and with paired apical claws. They are small to medium-sized butterflies.
The higher classification of the Riodinidae was revised by Harvey (1987) based on morphological characters and, more recently, Campbell et al. (2000) undertook a limited molecular phylogenetic study based on a single nuclear gene. Several workers have long advocated family-level status based on the presence of several unique character states, but only recently has strong empirical support for monophyly and a sister group relationship with the Lycaenidae been established (Campbell et al. 2000; Wahlberg et al. 2005). Five subfamilies were recognised by Harvey (1987) and DeVries (1997), but only members of the Nemeobiinae occur in Australia and elsewhere in the Old World; the four other subfamilies are largely restricted to the Neotropical Region. Phylogenetic analyses of combined molecular and morphological data sets of a limited taxon set (Wahlberg et al. 2005) suggests the following topology among the five subfamilies: (Riodininae + Corrachiinae) + Euselasiinae + (Styginae + Nemeobiinae).
Seraphim et al. (2018) updated Espeland et al. (2015) phylogeny of the Riodinidae, based mostly on taxa from the Neotropics (67% of all genera) and a larger molecular data set (9 genes), and proposed a new higher classification in which two families were recognized: Riodinidae and Nemeobiinae. The Nemeobiinae were divided into two tribes: the Nemeobiini and its sister group the Neotropical Euselasiini stat. nov. The Nemeobiini were further subdivided into two subtribes: the Old World Abisarina stat. nov. (which includes the two genera from the Australian region) and the Nemeobiina.
Only a single species of Riodinidae in the genus Praetaxila Fruhstorfer occurs in Australia. The larva feeds on Myrsinaceae.
General References
Campbell, D.L., Brower, A.V.Z. & Pierce, N.E. 2000. Molecular evolution of the Wingless gene and its implications for the phylogenetic placement of the butterfly family Riodinidae (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea). Molecular Biology and Evolution 17: 684–696
Espeland, M., Hall, J.P.W., DeVries, P.J., et al. 2015. Ancient Neotropical origin and recent recolonisation: phylogeny, biogeography ande diversification of the Riodinidae (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 93: 296-306
Seraphim, N., Kaminski, L.A., DeVries, P.J., et al. 2018. Molecular phylogeny and higher systematics of the metalmark butterflies (Lepidoptera: Riodinidae). Systematic Entomology 43: 407-425
Wahlberg, N., Braby, M.F., Brower, A.V.Z., de Jong, R., Lee, M.-M., Nylin, S., Pierce, N.E., Sperling, F.A.H., Vila, R., Warren, A.D. & Zakharov, E. 2005. Synergistic effects of combining morphological and molecular data in resolving the phylogeny of butterflies and skippers. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 272: 1577–1586
History of changes
Published | As part of group | Action Date | Action Type | Compiler(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
13-May-2022 | PAPILIONOIDEA | 17-Feb-2022 | MODIFIED | Dr Michael Braby |
06-Sep-2017 | PAPILIONOIDEA | 13-Feb-2018 | MODIFIED | |
05-Mar-2013 | 05-Mar-2013 | MODIFIED | ||
30-Mar-2012 | 30-Mar-2012 | MODIFIED | ||
12-Apr-2011 | 12-Apr-2011 | MOVED | ||
28-Mar-2012 | 05-Apr-2011 | MODIFIED | ||
28-Mar-2012 | 05-Apr-2011 | MODIFIED | ||
12-Feb-2010 | (import) |