Family LIMACODIDAE

Limacodidae

© Copyright CSIRO Entomology.

Limacodid or cupmoth larva

© Copyright M.Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens

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Introduction

[After Edwards 1996: 145-147] The first Australian Limacodidae was collected on Cook's first voyage in 1770 at the present site of Cooktown. It was described as Bombyx corones Fabricius in 1775 and has been consistently misidentified until the present. The Checklist of Edwards (1996) includes 26 genera and 70 species, all included here.

The world fauna was listed in Lepidopterorum Catalogus by van Eecke (1925) and the Indoaustralian fauna in Seitz's Macrolepidoptera of the World by Hering (1931). The Australian species were revised by Turner (1926). The latter paper and Hering's treatment are the most useful compilations of the Australian species. Species from Borneo were treated by Holloway (1986) and the South-East Asian palm-feeding species by Cock, Godfray & Holloway (1987). These are relevant althogh Australia shares few genera with this area. A number of genera (Chalcocelis Hampson, Hydroclada Meyrick, Scopelodes Westwood and Squamosa Bethune-Baker) are widespread or shared with New Guinea but many genera and species are endemic. There are few undescribed species well known in Australia but fewer than in most famlies. However, there is much work yet to be done in relating Australian and South-East Asian genera with each other.

The larvae are noticed by many people because of their curious shapes and colours and many species possess stinging hairs. The medical aspects of some of the Australian species that sting were dealt with by Southcott (1978, 1987). Species of Doratifera Duncan [& Westwood] frequently cause extensive defoliation of Eucalyptus forests. Outbreaks of palm-feeding species common in South-East Asia are not known in Australia.

General References

Cock, M.J.W., Godfray, H.C.J., Holloway, J.D. & Greathead, A.H. (eds). 1987. Slug and Nettle Caterpillars. The Biology, Taxonomy and Control of the Limacodidae of Economic Importance on Palms in South-east Asia. Wallingford : C.A.B. International x+270 pp., 36 pls

Edwards, E.D. 1996. Limacodidae. pp. 145-147 in Nielsen, E.S., Edwards, E.D. & Rangsi, T.V. (eds). Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera. Collingwood : CSIRO Publishing Vol. 4 xiv 529 pp. & CD-ROM

Hering, M. 1931. Limacodidae (Cochliopodidae). 667–728, pls 85–90 in Seitz, A. (ed). The Macrolepidoptera of the World. 10. Bombyces and Sphinges of the Indo-Australian Region. 2 vols. Stuttgart : Alfred Kernen Verlag

Holloway, J.D. 1986. The moths of Borneo. Part 1. Key to families; families Cossidae, Metarbelidae, Ratardidae, Dudgeoneidae, Epipyropidae and Limacodidae. Malayan Nature Journal 40: 1–166

Southcott, R. 1987. Moths and butterflies. 243–257 in Covacevich, J., Davie, P. & Pearn, J. (eds). Toxic Plants and Animals. A guide for Australia. Brisbane : Queensland Museum

Southcott, R.V. 1978. Lepidopterism in the Australian region. Records of the Adelaide Childrens Hospital 2: 87–173

Turner, A.J. 1926. Revision of Australian Lepidoptera: Drepanidae, Limacodidae, Zygaenidae. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 51: 411–445