BR. J. ENT. NAI. IIISI., 6: IW1 141 



THK BRITISH EPERMENIIDAE 



H. C. J. GODFRAY 



Department of Biology, Imperial College at Silwood I'urk, Ascot, Berkshire, SI. 5 7P / 



and P. H. Sterling 



Dorset County Council, County Hall, Dorchester, Dorset, DTI IXJ. 



This is a small family, which was often placed in the superfamily Yponomeutoidea, 

 but which has recently been placed in its own superfamily (Schnack, 1985; Scoble, 

 1991). The family contains approximately 100 species world-wide, 25 in Europe 

 and eight in the British Isles. The European species were revised by Gaedike 

 (1966) who illustrates the genitalia of all species. He recognizes four genera in two 

 subfamilies, one genus and subfamily being absent from Great Britain (Ochromolopsis 

 in the Ochromolopinae). 



All species feed on the leaves or seeds of plants in the families Apiaceae or 

 Santalaceae. The only British member of the Santalaceae is the bastard toadflax, Thesium 

 humifusum DC., the food plant of Epermenia insecurella; all the other British species 

 attack Apiaceae. However, other European species attack Santalaceae and, if one 

 accepts the classification of Gaedike as an evolutionary hypothesis, there must have been 

 at least three host plant switches between the two families. The Apiaceae and 

 Santalaceae are not closely related and we shall argue elsewhere that a more parsimoni- 

 ous classification can be constructed that involves only a single switch in food plant 

 family. If this suggestion is correct then the original food plants for the family were 

 in the Santalaceae and there has been a secondary radiation on the Apiaceae. 



The British moths in this family are between 8 and 15 mm in wingspan and appear 

 superficially similar to acrolepiines or gelechiids. Epermenia spp. and Phaulernis 

 dentella have well-developed scale teeth on the dorsum: tufts of scales that give the 

 moth, when at rest, a ridgeback appearance. It is possible that further species in this 

 family remain to be discovered in Great Britain. For example, it would be worth 

 checking spun seeds of Peucedanum officinale L. for the central European species 

 Cataplectica dentosella (Herrich-Schaffer). 



Phaulernis dentella (Zeller), Plate V, Fig. 1 



Wingspan 9-10 mm. Forewings nearly unicolorous, in fresh specimens with 

 indistinct lighter patches. Larva with dark brown head and yellowish body with 

 darker lines. Feeds in July and August in spun seeds of Chaerophyllum temulum L. 

 ( = C temulentum), Pimpinella spp., Aegopodium podagraria L. and perhaps other 

 Apiaceae. The moth overwinters as a pupa and flies in June when it can be found 

 on sunny days on the flowers of its food plant. Widespread but local in Southern 

 England from East Anglia to Cornwall. 



Phaulernis fulviguttella (Zeller), Plate V, Figs 2 and 3 



Wingspan 10-11 mm. Thorax and forewing ground colour fuscous with an orange 

 head and orange spots on wings. Specimens from the Shetlands (and the Alps) are 

 larger with heavier spotting (Fig. 3) and were once separated as auromaculata Frey. 

 Larva with dark brown head and whitish body with raised grey spots and a brownish 

 subdorsal line. Feeds in spun seeds of Heracleum sphondylium L. and Angelica 

 sylvestris L. between September and October. Overwinters as pupa, the moth 

 flying in July and August when it can be found resting on its foodplant. Widespread 

 and locally common throughout the British Isles. 



