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Papilionoidea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The superfamily Papilionoidea (from the word "papilion", meaning "butterfly") contains all the butterflies except for the skippers, which are classified in superfamily Hesperioidea, and the moth-like Hedyloidea.
A proposed phylogenetic position of the Papilionoidea is as follows:[1]
| Rhopalocera |
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Some authors treat this group as a series Papilioniformes within a single superfamily that also includes the skippers. However not all authors agree that all the butterflies constitute a single clade. The skippers are significantly different from the other butterflies. The members of the Papilionoidea may be distinguished by the following combination of characters :-
- the body is smaller and less moth-like.
- the wings are larger.
- the antennae are straight and clubbed (rather than hooked as in the skippers).
- the caterpillars do not spin cocoons to pupate in.
- the pupae are angular rather than rounded.
The traditional families of Papilionoidea are :
- Swallowtails and Birdwings, Papilionidae
- Whites or Yellow-Whites, Pieridae
- Blues and Coppers or Gossamer-Winged Butterflies, Lycaenidae
- Metalmark butterflies, Riodinidae
- Brush-footed butterflies, Nymphalidae which now contain the following :-
- the Browns (formerly the family Satyridae).
- the Danaids (formerly the family Danaidae).
- the Heliconids (formerly the family Heliconidae).
- the Amathusiids (formerly the family Amathusiidae).
- the Snout butterflies (formerly the family Libytheidae).
- the Limenitidids (formerly the family Limenitididae)
- other subfamilies traditionally part of family Nymphalidae.
