Genus Batrachedra

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Remarks · Print References

Unknown Micro moth - Batrachedra busiris

Large Batrachedra Moth - Batrachedra enormis

Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)

Superfamily Gelechioidea (Twirler Moths and kin)

Family Batrachedridae

Genus Batrachedra

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Batrachedra Herrich-Schäffer, 1853

Explanation of Names

Batrachedra is from Greek, apparently from batrachos (βατραχος)- "frog" + edra (εδρα)- "seat, sitting".

One 19th-century source, An Accented List of the British Lepidoptera, With Hints On the Derivation of Names, says the name alludes to "the insect's habit of sitting 'with the anterior feet put back, and the head raised,' thus giving it a somewhat frog-like appearance." (p.99)

Remarks

According to Hodges' revision here, there are a number of look-alike species in the eastern USA, and some of them are quite variable in appearance as well; for example, B. curvilineella is differentiated from B. praeangusta only on basis of life history and alar expanse (even genital morphology is the same in these two spp.). --Terry Harrison.

Print References

Herrich-Schäffer, G.A.W. 1853. Systematische Bearbeitung der Schmetterlinge von Europa, 5: 54

Maier, C.T. 2005. First North American records of Batrachedra pinicolella (Lepidoptera: Batrachedridae), a Palearctic needleminer of spruces. The Canadian Entomologist 137(2): 188-191

Hodges, R.W., 1966. Review of New World Species of Batrachedra, with Description of Three New Genera (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea). Transactions of the American Entomological Society. 92(4):585-651

Contributed by Charley Eiseman on 26 January, 2010 - 6:47pm
Additional contributions by Steve Nanz, Chuck Entz, Randy Hardy, treichard
Last updated 30 March, 2016 - 8:21pm

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