LIMACODIDAE. General Topics by Dr. A. Seitz 
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18. Family; limacodidae. 
The family of the Limacodidae, which name was recently changed to Cochlidionidaa after the generic 
name of Limacodes had disappeared, and hereafter by Hampson (1920) into Heterogeneidae, sometimes also called 
Cochlidiidae, Cochliopodae or Cocliopodes, are so very characteristic that hardly anything is to be added to 
what had been said about the characters of the family in 1912 (Vol. II, p. 339). We are not any better informed 
today of their phylogenetic relations than we were 25 years ago. Very probably they are to some extent 
connected with the Chryso polomid ae, judging from the imagines alone. They were also supposed to be related 
to the Megalopygidae. There are many facts arguing in favour of the Limacodidae being a very old lepidopteral 
branch which was formerly much more widely distributed than today. Among the Limacodidae there are extremely 
few that fly in daytime; only the species of the colder districts, such as the 3 European *) forms, regularly 
fly in daytime. Many fly very late at night, such as the Indian Scopelodes which often fly to the lantern as 
the last insects. 
The Limacodidae are not protected by interior saps; they seem not to occur particularly on poisonous 
plants, but to prefer rather foliage trees of the most varied families of plants, frequently also fruit-trees to 
which they may do great harm. In Australia they constantly feed on Eucalyptus, in Europe on oaks, in Africa 
on species of Myrica, in America on maples, in temperate Africa on oranges, and in nearly all the countries where 
Prunaceae (particularly apricots) are introduced, the Limacodidae are to be found on these trees. By preferring 
the indigenous trees of the countries they prove to be autochthonous in these countries, especially in Australia, 
and not to have immigrated in later times. Their universal range (in the tropical zones they are only absent 
in New Zealand) likewise argues in favour of their old age. 
Africa appears to be the country most relatively abounding in Limacodidae, whereas Europe shows 
the fewest forms. America is rather poorly provided with them, but in India and Australia they belong to the 
most common insects. Thus they live particularly in those districts which (owing to their other fauna and flora) 
are regarded as the home of the oldest animal families. 
The absence of an interior protection necessitates an exterior one the more, which is attained by adap¬ 
tation. Many larvae look like gall-shaped thickenings of leaves, and the effectiveness of this protection is 
experienced by every one who tries to collect the larvae in strange districts where the collector is not used to their 
appearance. Across the dorsum of the Javanese larva of Thosea loesa a thick, plastically profiled yellow longi¬ 
tudinal stripe extends, which exactly grows into the rib of the leaf, when the larva is in its usual resting 
position, so that this rib continues the dorsal stripe of the larva in front and behind, and thus completely hides 
the insect. In exactly the same way the larva of the Australian Doratifera casta conceals itself by the skilful 
adaptation of its dorsal stripe which resembles the rib of a leaf. 
Wherever the larvae are not adapted, they are protected in the way mentioned in Vol. II (1. e.), and 
their sting often has a very evil effect. In this case the green protective colouring of the larva is substituted 
by a bright warning colour, as for instance in the black Australian Doratijera quadriguttata which is provided 
with red stinging cones. During the pupation the pupa is no longer able to sting, therefore at once the protective 
colouring is resumed again. Thus the evil-stinging larva of Doratifera vulnerans spins a cocoon which every 
unexperienced collecter may take to be a small fruit of the food-plant, because its shape and exterior are 
somewhat like an acorn and it is fixed on the branchlets of the trees just like a xylocarp. 
The imagines themselves are nearly all most effectively protected by their colouring, as we have 
particularly pointed out in dealing with the genus Parasa (Vol. II, p. 345). In the other genera the species 
*) Besides Cochl. testudo and Heterog. asella, also C. codeti was ascertained in Europe (by M. Mabten). 
