::The Moths of Borneo::


INTRODUCTION

The moth groups covered in this part of The Moths of Borneo are, with the exception of the Castniidae, closely related to (Callidulidae), possible sister-group to (Drepanoidea) or included in the Geometroidea. The part therefore complements the three on Geometridae that follow in the numerical sequence but have already been published (Holloway, 1993[4], 1996, 1997). The relationship of these groups to each other and to other macrolepidopteran groups is discussed on Callidulidae, Drepanoidea and Geometroidea.

The Castniidae could perhaps more appropriately be assigned to one of the first two parts, covering the Cossoidea and Zygaenoidea to which they are probably most closely related within the Apoditrysia (Minet, 1991). However, the coverage of the Zygaenidae in Part 2 is being held in abeyance until the comprehensive revisional work within the family by Dr G. Tarmann (e.g. Tarmann, 1992) has progressed further. The lack of knowledge and indeed the very scarcity of the Castniidae in the Oriental Region has prompted their treatment in this part to alert naturalists in South East Asia to this lacuna in the hope that fresh observations can be made and the ecological requirements of the group revealed.

On biogeographic grounds, treatment of the Castniidae in this part enables their distribution to be contrasted with a number of other biogeographically interesting groups (Holloway & Hall, 1998), particularly the Callidulidae, a family that is probably also essentially Gondwanan but involving affinities across the Indian Ocean rather than through Australia and Antarctica to South America.

Localised or otherwise interesting patterns are shown by a number of other groups covered. The cyclidiine Drepanidae are restricted to the Oriental Region, and the Auzeinae and Microniinae of the Uraniidae are only found in the Old World tropics. The thyatirine Drepanidae are strongly centred in the Oriental tropics and subtropics, with some of the more species-rich genera extending into the Palaearctic and the New World (Werny, 1966) and there are outlying genera in Africa (Watson, 1965b; Lane, 1973), Australia (Scoble & Edwards, 1988) and New Guinea (Werny, 1966). Within the Uraniinae there are also some potentially Gondwanan relationships that involve host-plant specialisation within the Euphorbiaceae.

Host-plant specialisation is also seen in the other subfamilies of the Uraniidae, but is less frequently encountered in the Drepanidae, though the Cyclidiinae are only recorded from the family Alangiaceae, and there are major drepanine sections more or less restricted to Palmae and Rubiaceae. All records for the Callidulinae are of fern-feeding.


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