Apatelodidae

Definition

A family of medium-sized moths in the order Lepidoptera, commonly called American silkworm moths, placed within the superfamily Bombycoidea. Adults typically have broad wings with cryptic brown or gray patterning, and larvae feed on a variety of woody plants, often spinning silken cocoons in leaf litter or soil. The family was historically treated as a subfamily of Bombycidae but is now recognized as distinct based on morphological and molecular evidence.

Etymology

Example

The genus Apatelodes, namesake of the family Apatelodidae, includes species whose larvae feed on oaks and other hardwoods and pupate in dense silken cocoons.

Synonyms

• American silkworm moths

Related Terms

• Bombycoidea
• Bombycidae
• Lepidoptera
• Saturniidae
• Sphingidae

Usage Notes

Distinguished from the related family Bombycidae (which includes the domesticated silkworm Bombyx mori) by larval morphology and molecular phylogenetics; both families share the vernacular 'silkworm moth' but are not sister groups within Bombycoidea.