654 



William T. M. Forbes 



SUPERFAMILY URANIOIDEA 



This superfamiiy is, in the main, made up of rather slender moths, 

 with vestiture mostly of scales, and thin ample wings; the North 

 American species closely resembling the geometers. Antennae normally 

 simple, prismatic, pectinate in a few exotic forms; palpi slender and 

 upcurved; maxillary palpi minute, of porrect type, apparently absent 

 in the northeastern species; tongue coiled, somewhat weakened. No 

 ocelli. Fore wing with R 3 and R 4 stalked (fig. 409), widely separated 

 from R 5 which is approximate or stalked with M x ; 3d A running into 

 2d A near base, or obsolete ; 1st A lost. Hind wing with enlarged 

 humeral angle, supported by a more or less distinct humeral vein; 

 its outline usually irregular, angled or tailed ; 1st A lost, 3d A normal. 

 Other characters as given in synopsis. The superfamiiy includes the 

 exotic Uraniidae and Epicopeiidae, as well as the Epiplemidae, and is 

 a characteristically tropical group. 



Family 36. EPIPLEMID^I 



Frenulum present, fully developed, attached to the tip of the 



humeral angle ; retinaculum of bar 

 type (as in the Arctiidae). Cater- 

 pillar (fig. 410) of our species micro- 

 like in appearance; when young, 

 social in a web ; later, feeding more 

 exposed; head normal with front 

 extending about halfway to vertex; 

 without tufted or secondary setae, 

 but with a subprimary seta asso- 

 ciated with vi; vii represented by 

 two setae on prothorax, one on first 

 segment of abdomen, two on second, 

 and four on the leg-bearing seg- 

 ments ; setae iv and v on a level, and 

 well below the level of the spiracles ; 

 approximate on first three segments 

 of abdomen but on the others widely separated ; prolegs normal, with 

 biordinal hooks in a sharply curved band. Pupa in a cocoon, not 

 studied. Our two genera are typical of the family, though, unusually 

 small. Some of the exotic forms are striking. 



Figs. 409-410. epiplemidae 

 409, Venation of Callizzia amorata; 

 410, Callizzia amorata, seta map of 

 middle segment of abdomen (after 

 Fracker) 



