The female postabdomen and internal genitalia of the basal moth genus Agathiphaga (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Agathiphagidae): morphology and phylogenetic implications

Abstract

The female postabdomen of Agathiphaga vitiensis terminates in a telescope-type extensible oviscapt with an apial 'oviscapt probe' composed of fused segments behind VIII. Exceptionally within the Lepidoptera two pairs of long 'anterior apophyses' arise from segment VIII, from the dorsum and venter. Agathiphaga has the most elaborate postabdominal musculature recorded from female Lepidoptera, comprising 24 muscle sets of which nine may be family autapomorphies. Apophysis musculature does not permit unambiguous homologizing of the single anterior apophysis in Lepidoptera-Glossata with either the dorsal or ventral pair in Agathiphaga, but is compatible with an interpretation of the glossatan anterior apophyses as a composite formation. Nine muscle sets shared with rhyacophilid caddisflies are ascribed to the amphiesmenopteran ground plan. The spermathecal duct represents an intermediate stage between the simple type present in Micropterigidae and the 'two-compartment type' characteristic of almost all other Lepidoptera. The spermatheca has no lagena. The bursa copulatrix is small and simple. Accessory glands are very large, simple sacs. There are 40 + ovarioles per ovary. A terminal cloaca is extremely short. The numerous ovarioles potentially support a sister-group relationship between Agathiphagidae and all other Lepidoptera, whereas the spermathecal duct histology supports the alternative conservative placement of the family as sister group of all nonmicropterigid Lepidoptera.

A molecular phylogeny for the oldest (nonditrysian) lineages of extant Lepidoptera, with implications for classification, comparative morphology and life‐history evolution

“…The larvae are seed miners in Kauri pines (Araucariaceae) and renowned for their capacity to undergo very extended (> 10 years) diapause. Females have long, extensible ‘probing’ oviscapts, and the eggs are believed to be positioned on the seeds while these are still in the cone (Kristensen, ; Hünefeld & Kristensen, ).…”

Variable wing venation inAgathiphaga(Lepidoptera: Agathiphagidae) is key to understanding the evolution of basal moths

“…Agathiphaga vitiensis was first described from Fiji, and additional populations of Agathiphagidae from Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands have also been assigned to this species. Certain aspects of the morphology of A. vitiensis have been described [20][21][22][23], but since Dumbleton's original description of the family, studies of the wing venation of Agathiphagidae have relied exclusively on A. queenslandensis [24]. Notably, the wing venation of A. queenslandensis shares multiple features with the venation of the extinct Jurassic family Mesokristenseniidae: a 2-branched subcostal (Sc) vein and a 4-branched M vein [25].…”

Virtual dissections through micro‐CT scanning: a method for non‐destructive genitalia ‘dissections’ of valuable Lepidoptera material

“…Following its initial application to the study of insect cephalic morphology (Hörnschemeyer et al , ), micro‐CT scanning has been used to study an increasingly diverse range of aspects of insect comparative morphology, from muscles and cuticle (e.g. Beutel et al , , ; Hünefeld & Kristensen, ; Wipfler et al , ), brain structure and development (Ribi et al , ; Huetteroth et al , ), real‐time development (Lowe et al , ), forensic entomology (Richards et al , ), and functional reproductive morphology (Wojcieszek et al , ), to reconstructions of amber fossils (e.g. Lak et al , ; Pohl et al , ; Soriano et al , ) and even impression fossils (e.g.…”