Ernophthora

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Panorpida
Cladus: Amphiesmenoptera
Ordo: Lepidoptera
Subordo: Glossata
Cladus: Coelolepida
Cladus: Myoglossata
Cladus: Neolepidoptera
Infraordo: Heteroneura
Cladus: Eulepidoptera
Cladus: Ditrysia
Cladus: Apoditrysia
Cladus: Obtectomera
Superfamilia: Pyraloidea

Familia:Pyralidae
Subfamilia: Phycitinae
Tribus: Cabniini
Genus: Ernophthora
Species: E. aphanoptera – E. chrysura – E. denticornis – E. dryinandra – E. iospila – E. lechriogramma – E. maculicostella – E. palassoptera – E. phoenicias
Name

Ernophthora Meyrick, 1887

Type species: Ernophthora phoenicias Meyrick, 1887, by monotypy.
References
Additional references

Clarke, J.F.G. 1986. Pyralidae and Microlepidoptera of the Marquesas Archipelago. Smithsonian Contribution to Zoology 416: 1–485.. DOI: 10.5479/si.00810282.416. Reference page.

Ernophthora is a genus of small moths belonging to the snout moth family (Pyralidae). They form part of the Cabniini, a rather small tribe of the huge snout moth subfamily Phycitinae. This genus is generally found in the Australia-Pacific region.

These moths are remarkable for their ability to colonize oceanic islands. Numerous species occur as far offshore as the Marquesas Islands. Members of this genus can usually be distinguished from relatives by their 10-veined forewings, with veins 4 and 7 completely absent.[2]

Ernophthora caterpillars eat living and sometimes dead leaves, which they also spin together with webbing to hide. The food plants of this genus are not too well known, but appear to be limited by availability rather than being restricted to a particular lineage of plants; recorded are for example Bidens (beggarticks) and Vaccinium (blueberries and relatives), which are both asterids but otherwise unrelated.[2]
Selected species

Species of Ernophthora include:[3]

Ernophthora aphanoptera Clarke, 1986
Ernophthora chrysura (Meyrick, 1929) (tentatively placed here)
Ernophthora denticornis (Meyrick, 1929)
Ernophthora dryinandra (Meyrick, 1929)
Ernophthora iospila Clarke, 1986
Ernophthora lechriogramma Clarke, 1986
Ernophthora maculicostella (Ragonot, 1888)
Ernophthora milicha Turner, 1931
Ernophthora palassoptera Clarke, 1986
Ernophthora phoenicias Meyrick, 1887
Ernophthora schematica (Turner, 1947)

Footnotes

Pitkin & Jenkins (2004), and see references in Savela (2009)
Clarke (1986)

Clarke (1986), and see references in Savela (2009)

References

Clarke, John Frederick Gates (1986): Pyralidae and Microlepidoptera of the Marquesas Archipelago. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 416: 1-485. PDF fulltext (214 MB!)
Pitkin, Brian & Jenkins, Paul (2004): Butterflies and Moths of the World, Generic Names and their Type-species – Ernophthora. Version of 5 November 2004. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
Savela, Markku (2009): Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms – Ernophthora. Version of 9 April 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2011.