| Diagnosis: fw venation trifid; f/hw with differing
patterns, fw pattern often simplified or modified into lateral shades or
fasciae; meta-thoracic tympanum present
(often hidden in the vestiture) and oriented ventrad.
Diversity: Worldwide there are nine subfamilies and 3,500
species; North America has five subfamilies and 137 species; 41 species
occur in North Dakota.
Checklist numbers: 7895- 8032.
Biology: Larvae are arboreal foliage feeders, some Old World
species build communal nests and larvae travel in lines to and from
feeding sites– processionary caterpillars. The family name derives
from the tuft of scales found midway along the inner margin of the fw in
the nominate subfamily; the tuft is an upward ‘tooth’ when the wings
are folded. A few economic species: Yellow-necked caterpillar,
Unicorn caterpillar, Variable oak leaf caterpillar etc.
Key
to the Notodontidae of the Dakotas.
Specimen
data for Notodontidae imaged on this website. |
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| Further reading:
Donahue, Julian P. 1993.
The distribution of three broadly sympatric species of Symerista
moths (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae) in the Great Lakes and midwest regions
of the United States. Great Lakes Entomol. 26(3): 161-171.
Forbes, William T. M.
Family 46. Notodontidae, pp. 203- 237 in, Ibid. 1923. Lepidoptera
of New York and neighboring states. Part II. Geometridae, Notodontidae,
Sphingidae, Lymantriidae. Cornell Agric. Exp. Sta. Mem. 274: 263 pp.
Kitching, Ian J. and John
E. Rawlins. Chapter 19 The Noctuoidea, pp. 355- 401 in Kristensen,
Neils P. ed. 1999. Lepidoptera, moths and butterflies. Part 35, Vol. 1 in
Handbook of Zoology. Maximilian Fischer ed. Walter de Gryter, New
York. 491 pp.
Miller, James S. 1991.
Cladistics and classification of the Notodontidae (Lepidoptera:
Noctuoidea) based on larval and adult morphology. Amer. Mus. Natr. Hist.
Bull. 204: 230 pp.
__________. 1992.
Host-plant associations among Prominent moths. BioSci. 42(1): 50- 57.
Scoble, Malcom J. 1992. The
Higher Ditrysia, Chapter 12, pp. 290- 341 in The Lepidoptera:
form, function, and diversity. Oxford Univ. press..Oxford, Walton St. 404 pp.
Wagner, David L.
2005. Prominents, Notodontidae, pp. 279- 320 in
Caterpillars of eastern North America. Princeton Univ, press,
Princeton, NJ.. 512 pp..
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