Papilionoidea

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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:

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.

Families of Papilionoidea

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.

References

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Last updated on Tuesday February 26, 2008 at 15:36:42 PST (GMT -0800)
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