Papilionoidea
Superfamily of butterflies / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about a group of butterflies. For the group of flowers that look like butterflies, see Papilionoideae.
The superfamily Papilionoidea (from the genus Papilio, meaning "butterfly") contains all the butterflies except for the moth-like Hedyloidea.
Quick Facts Scientific classification, Families ...
Papilionoidea | |
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Top left: Delias eucharis Top right: Calinaga buddha | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Infraorder: | Heteroneura |
Clade: | Eulepidoptera |
Clade: | Ditrysia |
Clade: | Apoditrysia |
Clade: | Obtectomera |
Superfamily: | Papilionoidea Latreille, 1802 |
Families | |
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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 or hooked as in the skippers.
- The caterpillars do not spin cocoons in which to pupate.
- The pupae are angular rather than rounded.
Recent phylogenetic analyses suggest the traditionally circumscribed Papilionoidea are a paraphyletic group, and that skippers (family Hesperiidae) and Neotropical moth-like butterflies (family Hedylidae) are true butterflies that should be included within the Papilionoidea superfamily to reflect cladistic relationships.[1][2]