Publ. 26. V. 1931. 
LIMACODIDAE. General Topics by Dr. A. Seitz. 
665 
20. Family: limacodidae. 
It is probably due to the insignificant exterior of a very great number of species belonging to this 
family that little attention was paid to the Limacodidae in former times and that the tropical species had 
been frequently disregarded or wrongly classified, despite of very characteristic marks which have been chiefly 
pointed out in Vol. II, p. 339. Until the beginning of this century, about 400 species (according to Kirby’s 
Catalogue 410) had been ascertained. In the year 1914, Rebel already counted about 700, and since that 
time the number has increased to more than 1000. Fifty new species have been described in Vol. XIV alone, 
and the present volume contains about 150 species newly described (and figured almost without exception), 
whilst about 10 forms have been newly described in Vol. VI from the American fauna. In 1925, Strand’s 
Catalogue of the Limacodidae already enumerates 847 species, to which the 200 lepidoptera newly described 
in the “Macrolepidoptera” are to be added besides some more, so that the total number of species known of 
this family amounts to about 1050. 
The fact that the Limacodidae represent a very old lepidopteral family had been substantiated in the 
introductions to this family in Vol. II (p. 339) and Vol. XIV (p. 447) by their geographical distribution. 
Above all, their great abundance in those countries regarded as particularly old geologically, chiefly Australia 
and the central regions of the Asiatic and African continents. Moreover, a very great diffusion of certain 
genera or groups of species, which, on their part again, mostly occur in immense numbers of individuals. Be¬ 
sides, the lack of a proboscis in the imagines, which does not allow any conclusion at relations of the Limacodidae 
to any phanerogamic blossoms. A relatively great uniformity of the exterior of most of the sj>ecies and, besides, 
a primitive structure and especially the incompletely developed neuration which still exhibits some veins 
that are reduced, fused, or have vanished in modern lepidopteral families. 
It is also by reason of the great phylogenetic age of the Limacodidae that the family is divided into 
such a very great number of genera, no less than 97 of which are represented in the Indo-Australian region. 
All the genera enumerated in the following pages are presumably well founded. Owing to the long existence 
of the species belonging to this family, most of them, in spite of their uniform exterior, have been able to 
deviate from each other in their structure farther than this corresponds to purely specific marks of distinction. 
Thus it is most obvious that a very great number of these genera must be monotypical. 
Among the lepidopteral species of the present day, the nearest allies of the Limacodidae are probably 
to be found in the Megalopygidae, but it is still very difficult at present to decide which of the peculiarities 
common to these two groups are to be considered as a relationship and which as convergencies. The larvae 
are chiefly distinguished by the creeping sole described at the place quoted above, which replaces the abdominal 
legs being transformed into sucking cups, and with which the larvae generally cling so very fast to their 
support that they can hardly be shaken off from trees or twigs. This transformation of the ventral surface is 
already prepared, to a certain degree, in the Megalopygidae in which the number of bogus feet has increased 
to 16. Many Limacodidae also have the uncommonly effective burning hairs in common with these Megalo- 
pygidae, being endowed with a venomousness that may often be almost dangerous. These nettling hairs, 
however, are more confined to single parts of the larval body in the Limacodidae, whereas the Megalopygidae 
are usually covered with them like a long-haired red or yellow wig frustrating any offensive approach. 
The nettle-organs are not common to all the Limacodidae. Some, as the larva of Cheromettia lohor Mr., 
have the exterior of green leaf-galls, similar to the larva of the palaearctic Cochlidion limacodes, being smooth 
or set with very fine tubercles, or they even resemble, like the larva of Ghalcoscelides castaneipars Mr., a 
X . 83 
