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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.

 

History of changes

Note that this list may be incomplete for dates prior to September 2013.
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)