Sematuridae
EOL Text
Introduction:
Sematuridae include about 40 species in about six genera (Minet and Scoble 1999). All but one of these are in the subfamily Sematurinae, which are nearly all Neotropical. The subfamily Apoprogoninae consists of only the African species Apoprogones hesperistis. The adult moths are medium-sized to large, often with tailed hindwings and sometimes brightly colored. Most are nocturnal, but some are diurnal. In the resting posture the wings are spread out against the substrate as in Geometridae. The Sematuridae are placed in the Geometroidea by Minet and Scoble (1999), but differ from the other two families therein included, Geometridae and Uraniidae, in lacking paired ultrasound-detecting tympanal organs at the base of the abdomen. Excellent images of adult and larval sematurids can be found at Caterpillars, pupae, butterflies & moths of the ACG and Caterpillars and Parasitoids of the Eastern Andes in Ecuador. 
Coronidia orithea 
Homidiana sp
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Diversity description:
Sematuridae include about 40 species in about six genera (Minet and Scoble 1998). All but one of these are in the subfamily Sematurinae, which are nearly all Neotropical. The subfamily Apoprogoninae consists of only the African species Apoprogones hesperistis
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Life habits of immature stages:
Sematurid caterpillars are cryptic external feeders on leaves (see summary in Wikipedia. Host plants have been recorded for only four species in three genera, but it appears that diverse plant growth forms and taxa are used and that host range varies strongly among species (see Caterpillars, pupae, butterflies & moths of the ACG, Caterpillars.org, and synthesis in Wikipedia). Thus, Coronidia orithea is known only from the mistletoe Phoradendron quadrangulare (Santalaceae, Santalales), while Homidiana evenus is reported only from Vismia tomentosa in the Clusiaceae (Malpighiales). On the other hand, Sematura luna has been reared from both Pentaclethra macroloba(Fabaceae) and Syzygium longifolium(Myrtaceae), while Coronidia subpicta has been reared from eight families that include asterids, rosids and magnoliids.
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Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships:
A recent molecular study (Regier et al. 2009) upholds the placement of Sematuridae in Geometroidea sensu Minet and Scoble (1999), though the support is not strong. However, the molecular results place the Epicopeiidae, treated by Minet and Scoble as the sister group to Drepanidae, as the nearest relative to Sematuridae, albeit with weak support. Epicopeiidae, like Sematuridae, lack tympanal organs. A sister group relationship of Epicopeiidae to Sematuridae was also hypothesized by Beljaev (2009), on the basis of morphological characters. In his scheme, however, the Drepanidae, rather than Epicopeiidae + Sematuridae, were the closest relatives to Uraniidae + Geometridae.
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| Source | http://www.leptree.net/lep_taxon_page?id=3642&scientificName=Sematuridae |
Fossil record:
No fossils are known.
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Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) Stats
Specimen Records:216
Specimens with Sequences:158
Specimens with Barcodes:140
Species:16
Species With Barcodes:14
Public Records:53
Public Species:6
Public BINs:6
Collection Sites: world map showing specimen collection locations for Sematuridae
Sematuridae is a family of moths in the lepidopteran order that contains two subfamilies (Minet and Scoble, 1999).
Taxonomy, systematics, and identification[edit]
These are large day-flying or night-flying moths, usually tailed and similar to Uraniidae in general appearance[1](except for the genera Apoprogones, Anuropteryx and Lonchotura) . The position of this family is not certain amongst the Macrolepidoptera but it is usually considered to belong to the superfamily Geometroidea, whilst the identity of its closest extant relative is under investigation using DNA sequencing[2]. Until recently very little has been known of sematurid biology (but see Sematurinae). The "chaetosemata" of Sematuridae have long setae overhanging the compound eyes, the antennae are thickened towards the often rather clubbed or hooked tip whilst a tympanal organ for hearing is always absent and there are other diagnostic characters in the abdomen (Minet and Scoble, 1999: 305-307; Holloway et al., 2001).
Distribution[edit]
Apoprogoninae is represented by a single species in South Africa whilst Sematurinae is represented by about 29 (41 including the genera Anurapteryx and Lonchotura) species in the Neotropics[3]. Such an apparently relictual distribution might relate to the geological split of South America and Africa, but there is as yet no evidence for the age of evolutionary divergence of Neotropical and Afrotropical representatives; moreover, new genetic material would be needed for the South African taxon as well as the American genera Anurapteryx and Lonchotura for a modern molecular approach to this problem to succeed[4].
References[edit]
- Holloway, J.D., Kibby, G and Peggie, D. (1997). The families of Malesian moths and butterflies. Fauna Malesia Handbooks. 455 pp. Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden.
- Minet, J. and Scoble, M. J. (1999) [1998]. The Drepanoid/Geometroid Assemblage. Pp. 301–320 in Kristensen, N.P. (Ed.), Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies. Volume 1, Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Handbook of Zoology, vol. IV, Arthropoda: Insecta, Part 35: 491 pp. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and New York.
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