LEPIDOPTERA HETEROCERA. 



721 



relationship w i t h 

 the Trich o p t e r a. 

 The larva has six- 

 teen pro-legs and 

 lives amongst damp 

 moss. Its head 

 bears long antennae 

 and is retractile 

 into the following 

 segments. The 

 mandibles of the 

 pupa are functional; 

 the pupa is said to 

 bite a hole out of 

 the cocoon, through 

 which the imago 

 frees itself. The 

 imagos have bronzy 

 wings. The family 

 is Holarctic, and 

 also represented in 

 New Zealand by 

 Palaeomicra. Erio- 

 cephala calthella is 

 a very common 

 British species, 

 found early in the 

 year on buttercups. 

 By the form of its 

 mouth-parts, Erio- 

 cephala shows that 

 Lepidoptera can be 

 considered as man- 

 dibulate insects, in 

 the majority of 

 which the man- 

 dibles are absent 

 or extremely re- 

 duced. 



Fam. 53. Mieropterygidae. The cross nervures are numerous, but not 

 so many as in the Eriocephalidae, and the sub-median nervure is forked. 

 No frenulum or mandibles are present. Maxillae form a short proboscis 

 with long palps. The family is represented by the genus Micropteryx. 

 The female has a cutting ovipositor by means of which she lays her eggs in 

 the mesophyll of a leaf. The larva is without feet ; before transformation 

 it makes its way underground, where the pupa surrounds itself with a 

 cocoon strengthened by grains of earth. The pupa, like that of the 

 Trichoptera, has a free head and appendages including large mandibles, 

 but these latter are lost in the imago. The moths are small with a metallic 

 sheen. Micropteryx occurs in Northern and Middle Europe including 

 Britain. 



FIG. 459. Pronuba synthetica. North America. A larva ; 

 B, C pupa, ventral and lateral aspects ; D female moth ; 

 E head and part of thorax of the female moth ; a labial palp ; 6 

 maxillary tentacle ; c maxillary palp ; d proboscis ; e base of 

 front leg (after Riley, from Sharp). 



Z III 



3 A 



