Lepidoptera - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

Characteristics

The lépidoptères, in the adult form (butterfly), are characterized by:

Two pairs of membranous Wings covered with coloured scales, which are flattened silks; the word “lépidoptères” comes from this characteristic: lepidos wants to say scales in Greek.
a body almost always hidden by a thick coating of Superficial body growth S;
Of the oral Parts transformed into horn, rolled up in spiral to aspire nectar. the horn is formed by the galeas maxilles which are strongly lengthened and connected between them by two coaptations: the former one made of Silk S and the posterior one made of hooks which strongly solidarize them thus forming a channel which allows the aspiration of the Nectar (botanical). All the other oral parts are atrophied or absent except for the labial palpi which protect the horn when it is rolled up at rest. the horn of the butterflies is a tool of utmost precision which cumulates the technical prowesses. At rest, it remains rolled up in spiral as a spring of watch, under the effect of an elastic blade which runs throughout its higher wall. A succession of rings of Chitine - very resistant substance - maintains the drain open whatever its curve. When the butterfly wants to be nourished, it contracts a series of several hundreds of tiny oblique muscles, located in the thickness of the horn, whose they cause unfolding. With the first third length, special muscles bend the horn downwards. This flexible articulation supports in particular the research of the Nectar in the narrowest corollas and deepest. Without same having to lower the head, the butterfly moves its horn to explore all the recesses of the flowers which he visits. In the head of the insect, a kind of pear can dilate under the action of powerful muscles. It acts as vacuum cleaner. The butterflies of day are posed on the corollas. Thanks to very sensitive gustatory bodies located at the end of their legs, they know immediately if it is necessary to deploy their cumbersome implements of aspiration.

The larva, or caterpillar, is of crushing type with two labial glands Séricigène S i.e. manufacturing a silk wire.

The Chrysalide is often in a cocoon. The development of the caterpillars is generally carried out in five stages marked by driven until the transformation into Chrysalide. According to the species, the Nymphose takes place with the free air and the caterpillar is surrounded sometimes of a Cocon of wire of Soie before being transformed into chrysalis or it takes place under ground.

99% of the known species are Phytophage S, i.e. nourish plants. The adults nourish themselves for the majority of nectar of the plants with flowers. Some have the traditional oral parts of the insects and are thus regarded as “primitive” species, others have an atrophied horn and do not nourish themselves in an adult state.

Vocabulary

The term lépidoptère drift of Latin will lepidoptera , itself of the Greek λεπίς “scale” and πτερόν “wing”). Good number of species are called differently according to their developmental stage. Often only the butterfly is named, of another time, only the caterpillar, because devastating, bears a name. More exceptionally the two forms are named as for the species Nymphalis antiopa or Bombyx mori .

to see: List Papillon by vernacular name and Chenille by vernacular name

Classification

The taxonomy of the insects is in full evolution even revolution, and various classifications are very disparate in particular concerning the sections located between the orders and the kinds.

History of classifications

Carl von Linné in Systema Naturae (1758) recognizes three groups of lépidoptères, the Papilio , the Sphinx and the Phalaena with seven sub-groups in the Phalaena (Scoble, 1995). This separation is found today in 9 of the super-families of lépidoptères.

After Linné, Denis and Schiffermüller (1775) are followed by Fabricius (1775) and Latreille (1796). They identify much more species by gathering them in what will be recognized like kinds.

Hübner describes many the modern kinds and Ochsenheimer and Friedrich Treitschke (1776-1842), in a series of volumes on the European fauna of lépidoptères published between 1807 and 1835, reinforces the bases of their classification in kinds (Scoble, 1995).

G.A.W. Herrich-Schaffer (several volumes, 1843-1856), and Edward Meyrick (1895) base their classification on the veining of the wings. At the same time, Sir George Hampson works on the distinction between Microlepidoptera and Macrolepidoptera.

Among the first entomologists studied the fossils of insects and their evolution, Samuel Hubbard Scudder (1837-1911) works on the butterflies. It will publish a study of the layers of Colorado. Andrey Vasilyevich Martynov (1879-1938) highlights the proximity of the lépidoptères and the Trichoptère S (Grimaldi and Engel, 2005).

Among the major contributions of the 20th century appears the separation based on the structure of the genital apparatus of the females in Monotrysia and Ditrysia by Carl Julius Bernhard Börner (1880-1953) in 1925 and 1939 (Scoble, 1995).

Willi Hennig (1913-1976) develops the analysis Cladistique and applies it to the Phylogénie insects. Niels P. Kristensen, E.S. Nielsen and D.R. Davis study the relations between the families of Monotrysia, Kristensen having worked on the phylogeny of the insects and the great groups of lépidoptères (Scoble 1995, Grimaldi and Engel, 2005). Whereas in general, the phylogenies based on the analyzes of DNA differ from phylogeny based on the morphological analyzes, it is not the case for the lépidoptères, at least with large scales (Grimaldi and Engel, 2005). The attempts at regrouping of the super-families of lépidoptères into large natural groups failed all because the current criteria Microlepidoptera and Macrolepidoptera, Heterocera and Rhopalocera, Jugatae and Frenatae, Monotrysia and Ditrysia (Scoble 1995) do not make it possible to define groups monophyletic.

Fossils

The lépidoptères Fossile S tend to be rarer than those of the other insects, because they were less abundant in types of environment like the lakes and the ponds favourable with fossilization and that the larval stages do not have that the head Chitine uses like hard part likely to be fossilized.

There exist however some fossils, in the Ambre or very fine Sédiment S. Traces of galleries can be observed on fossil sheets but their interpretation is delicate (Grimaldi and Engel, 2005).

The oldest fossil is Archaeolepis basket Jurassic English, gone back to approximately 190 million years (Grimaldi and Engel, 2005). They are remainders of wings which shows scales with parallel grooves under a Electron microscope and the network of veins characteristic commun run with the lépidoptères and trichoptères. One knows that two other fossils of Jurassic and thirteen in the Crétacé (Grimaldi and Engel, 2005). The most fossils begin with the tertiary , with the Eocene in particular, with the layers of Ambre of the Baltique. Those are not great utility to establish the Phylogénie lépidoptères because they are already very close to the modern species. It is probable that the differentiation of the group of the lépidoptères which have a body highly specialized as the horn was achieved at the same time as the development of the plants with flowers before the end of the tertiary sector.

Classification I

the majority of the lépidoptères , more commonly called butterflies , gather in the division of the Ditrysia , which accounts for 99% of the lépidoptères, itself divided into two S:

the Hétérocères , are rather of dull colors, their antennas are often in feathers (they are implied in the communication by the phéromones) (moths). This sub-order includes/understands many super-families (SF) and S (fam.) which gather the Pyrale S, the tineas and the Mite S:

the Rhopalocères , are insects with the bright colors, their antennas generally finish out of quite distinct bludgeon (butterflies of day). This includes/understands also some super-families (SF) and S (fam.):

the 1% remainder is consisted Monotrysia which includes/understands 2 super-families characterized by mineuses larvae:

These distinctions based primarily on the morphology are practically abandoned with the profit of analyzes Phylogénétique S.

Classification II

The lépidoptères are divided into four sub-orders:

Classification III

With the appearance of the genetics, Pussy and Bourgoin proposed a phylogenetic news Classification which is not entirely adopted and is the subject of a continuous revision (all the genetic analyzes were not made yet, for more information on classification lira the article on the Systématique). Classification below tries to take account of this new classification.

Hexapodes

Insects

Archéognathes
CNN (clade not named)

Thysanoures
CNN

Odonates
CNN

éphéméroptères
Néoptères

CNN (nondetailed)

Blattoptère S
Mantoptère S
Isoptère S
Plécoptéroïde S
Orthoptères
Dermaptère S
Grylloblatoptère S
Embioptère S
Phasmatodea

CNN (nondetailed)

Zoraptère S
Psocoptère S
Phthiraptère S
Hémiptère S
Thysanoptère S

CNN (nondetailed)

Strepsiptère S
Coleopter S
Névroptère S
Raphidioptère S
Mégaloptère S

CNN (nondetailed)

Hyménoptère S
Mécoptère S
Siphonaptères
Dipterous S
Trichoptère S
Lépidoptère S

Butterflies of Europe

Classification adopted by Fauna Europae

Fauna Europaea is the database of the European Union on the fauna of Europe. Maintained by the university of Amsterdam, the university of Copenhagen and the Natural history museum of natural history of Paris, it is accessible to all on Internet.

Some common species in Europe

Acherontia atropos - Sphinx death's-head
Aglais urticae - Small tortoise
Aporia crataegi - Gauze
Argynnis paphia - Tobacco of Spain
Autographa gamma - Gamma
Cynthia cardui - Beautiful-Lady
Euplagia quadripunctaria - clouded Scale
Fabriciana niobe - Figure
Gonepteryx rhamni - Lemon-yellow
Gonepteryx will cleopatra - Citron of Provence
Hipparchia fagi - Sylvandre
Hipparchia alcyone - Petit sylvandre

Inachis io - Paon of the day

Limenitis camilla - Petit Sylvain

Lycaena alciphron - Bronzé

Macroglossum stellatarum - Moro sphinx

Melanargia galathea - Demi-deuil

Papilio swallowtail butterfly - Machaon or Grand carry-tail

Pararge aegeria tircis - Tircis

Pyronia tithonus - Amaryllis

Saturnia pyri - Large peacock of night

Vanessa atalanta - Vulcan

Butterflies of the world

Some species

Uranie : large butterfly of Madagascar, with the sharp colors (Family of the uraniidés ).
Monarch: diurnal butterfly of North America whose characteristic is to migrate.
Butterfly of ash: irritant night butterfly responsible for the Papillonite.

List currently accepted families

Symbols and mythology of the butterfly

We regard readily the butterfly as a symbol of lightness and inconstancy. Among Christians, it is about the heart removed from its carnal envelope and become bienfaitrice and happy.

Grace and lightness, the butterfly is, in Japan, an emblem of the woman; but two butterflies appear marital happiness. Subtle lightness: the butterflies are travellers spirits; their sight announces a visit, or the death of a close relation.

Another aspect of the symbolism of the butterfly is founded on its metamorphoses: the chrysalis is the egg which contains the potentiality to be it; the butterfly which in fate is a symbol of resurrection. It is still, if one prefers the exit of the tomb.

Symbol of solar and diurnal fire, and for this reason of the heart of the warriors, it represents the sun in the temple of the warriors Aztèques and the god of fire carries like emblem pectoral named butterfly of obsidian . Obsidian, as the flint is a stone of fire. All these interpretations probably rise from the analogical association of the butterfly and the flame, because of its colors and of the beat of its wings.

August 1st

Appendices

Random links:

Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard | Chinese supreme popular court | Sandra Farmer-Patrick | Andy Lau | Fama (collection)