my-server
← Wiki

Miletinae

Miletinae is a subfamily of the family Lycaenidae of butterflies, commonly called harvesters and woolly legs, and virtually unique among butterflies in having predatory larvae. Miletinae are entirely aphytophagous (do not feed on plants). The ecology of the Miletinae is little understood, but adults and larvae live in association with ants, and most known species feed on Hemiptera (aphids, coccids, membracids, and psyllids), though some, like Liphyra, feed on the ants themselves. The butterflies, ants, and hemipterans, in some cases, seem to have complex symbiotic relationships benefiting all.

Systematics

  • Tribe Miletini
  • Allotinus <small>C. & R. Felder, [1865]</small> — Indomalayan realm
  • Lontalius <small>Eliot, 1986</small> — Indomalayan realm
  • Miletus <small>Hübner, [1819]</small> — Indomalayan realm
  • Logania <small>Distant, 1884</small> — Indomalayan realm
  • Megalopalpus <small>Röber, [1886]</small> — Afrotropical realm
  • Tribe Spalgini
  • Spalgis <small>Moore, 1879</small> — Indomalayan realm, Afrotropical realm
  • Feniseca <small>Grote, 1869</small> — Nearctic realm (one species, Feniseca tarquinius)
  • Taraka <small>Doherty, 1889</small> — East Asian Palearctic realm, Indomalayan realm (sometimes in a separate tribe: Tarakini)
  • Tennenta <small>Müller, 2017</small> — Australasian realm
  • Tribe Lachnocnemini
  • Lachnocnema <small>Trimen, 1887</small> — Afrotropical realm
  • Thestor <small>Hübner, [1819]</small> — Afrotropical realm
  • Tribe Liphyrini (formerly a separate subfamily: Liphyrinae)
  • Euliphyra <small>Holland, 1890</small> — Afrotropical realm
  • Aslauga <small>Kirby, 1890</small> — Afrotropical realm
  • Liphyra <small>Westwood, [1864]</small> — Indomalayan realm, Australasian realm

References

Further reading

  • d'Abrera, Bernard (1986) Butterflies of the Oriental Region. Part 3: Lycaenidae and Riodinidae. Hill House Publishers
  • d'Abrera, Bernard, (1980) Butterflies of the Afrotropical region based on Synonymic catalogue of the butterflies of the Ethiopian region by R.H. Carcasson. Lansdown Editions with E. W. Classey, Melbourne
  • Kaliszewska, Z.A., Lohman, D.J., Sommer, K., Adelson, G., Rand, D.B., Mathew, J., Talavera, G. & Pierce, N.E. 2015. When caterpillars attack: Biogeography and life history evolution of the Miletinae (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Evolution 69(3): 571–588.

External links