Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Subfamily Apatelodinae

Spotted Apatelodes - Apatelodes torrefacta - male TX - Caterpillar - Apatelodes torrefacta Small Sphinx Twin Spotted? - Apatelodes torrefacta 7663 – Apatelodes torrefacta – Spotted Apatelodes  - Apatelodes torrefacta What moth species? - Olceclostera angelica Apatelodes torrefacta? - Apatelodes torrefacta Cool looking moth  - Olceclostera angelica Apatelodes torrefacta
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 Bombycoidea (Silkworm, Sphinx, and Royal Moths)
Family Apatelodidae (American Silkworm Moths)
Subfamily Apatelodinae
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Apatelodinae Neumoegen & Dyar, 1894
* formerly considered a separate family (Apatelodidae); now one of two subfamilies of Bombycidae in North America, and four subfamilies in the world
Explanation of Names
Apatelodinae from the type genus Apatelodes (Packard), meaning "resembles Apatela (Stephens)." Packard described the larvae as bearing a "striking resemblance to Apatela americana" (now Acronicta americana).
Numbers
5 species in 2 genera in North America. 2 species in Canada (CBIF).
Remarks
The former family Apatelodidae was included as a subfamily (Apatelodinae) within Bombycidae by Lemaire and Minet in 1999. This classification is followed by Moths of Canada and Charles Covell on page xiii of the 2005 edition of A Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America (1)
Print References
Lemaire, C. and J. Minet. 1999. The Bombycoidea and their relatives. Pages 321-353 in: Kristensen, N.P. (ed.) Lepidoptera: Moths and Butterflies. 1. Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Handbook of Zoology. Vol. IV, Part 35. De Gruyter, Berlin and New York.
Internet References
pinned adult images of both species occurring in Canada (CBIF)
classification and synonym (ITIS)
classification of Bombycidae, showing four subfamilies worldwide (Tree of Life)
Works Cited
1.Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America
Charles V. Covell, Jr. 2005.