Lymantriinae

1. Lymantriinae View in CoL

Historically, Lymantriinae has been treated as a family, but Lafontaine & Fibiger (2006) reclassified it as a subfamily. This reclassification received further validation from studies by Zahiri et al. (2011, 2012) and Wang et al (2015).

Adult characters. The resting posture of Lymantriidae is unique as the wings are held in a broad triangle and pressed close to the substrate, while the densely hairy forelegs extend forward in front of the head (Kitching & Rawlins 1998). Morphological characters include a metathoracic tympanum; bipectinate antennae in the male with one to three spinules at the terminal of each branch; strongly reduced or absent proboscis; a prespiracular counter-tympanal hood; males with paired, pocket-like tymbal organs on the third abdominal sternite ( Holloway 1999).

Larval characters. Larval characteristics include yellow to red dorsal glands located at the center of the sixth and seventh abdominal segments. In certain species, the larvae possess hollow, barbed, urticating setae that contain histamine, rendering them toxic.

Diversity and distribution. Approximately, 2500 species in nearly 360 genera are known globally. Subfamily is cosmopolitan in distribution with majority in the Old World tropics (Kitching & Rawlins 1998). In India , 282 species in 47 genera are reported.