Lepidoptera in the context of Nectar

The caddisflies (order Trichoptera) are a group of insects with aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults. There are approximately 14,500 described species, most of which can be divided into the suborders Integripalpia and Annulipalpia on the basis of the adult mouthparts. Integripalpian larvae construct a portable casing to protect themselves as they move around looking for food, while annulipalpian larvae make themselves a fixed retreat in which they remain, waiting for food to come to them. The affinities of the small third suborder Spicipalpia are unclear, and molecular analysis suggests it may not be monophyletic. Also called sedge-flies or rail-flies, the adults are small moth-like insects with two pairs of hairy membranous wings. They are closely related to the Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) which have scales on their wings; the two orders together form the superorder Amphiesmenoptera.

The aquatic larvae are found in a wide variety of habitats such as streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, spring seeps and temporary waters (vernal pools), and even the ocean. The larvae of many species use silk to make protective cases, which are often strengthened with gravel, sand, twigs, bitten-off pieces of plants, or other debris. The larvae exhibit various feeding strategies, with different species being predators, leaf shredders, algal grazers, or collectors of particles from the water column and benthos. Most adults have short lives during which they do not feed.

A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma of a flower. This helps to bring about fertilization of the ovules in the flower by the male gametes from the pollen grains.

Insects are the major pollinators of most plants, and insect pollinators include all families of bees and most families of aculeate wasps; ants; many families of flies; many lepidopterans (both butterflies and moths); and many families of beetles. Vertebrates, mainly bats and birds, but also some non-bat mammals (monkeys, lemurs, possums, rodents) and some lizards pollinate certain plants. Among the pollinating birds are hummingbirds, honeyeaters and sunbirds with long beaks; they pollinate a number of deep-throated flowers. Humans may also carry out artificial pollination.

A hyperparasite, also known as a metaparasite, is a parasite whose host is itself a parasite, often specifically a parasitoid. Hyperparasites are found mainly among the wasp-waisted Apocrita within the Hymenoptera, and in two other insect orders, the Diptera (true flies) and Coleoptera (beetles). Seventeen families in Hymenoptera and a few species of Diptera and Coleoptera are hyperparasitic. Hyperparasitism developed from primary parasitism, which evolved in the Jurassic period in the Hymenoptera. Hyperparasitism intrigues entomologists because of its multidisciplinary relationship to evolution, ecology, behavior, biological control, taxonomy, and mathematical models.

Caddisfly silk is silk that is secreted by the silk glands of the caddisfly (Trichoptera), similar to Lepidoptera silkworms (B. mori). The larvae use silk to hunt and defend themselves. The silk's underwater binding properties are a subject of ongoing scientific research.

The Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution (abbreviated KTR), also known as the Angiosperm Terrestrial Revolution (ATR) by authors who consider it to have lasted into the Paleogene, describes the intense floral diversification of flowering plants (angiosperms) and the coevolution of pollinating insects (especially anthophilans and lepidopterans), as well as the subsequent faunal radiation of various frugivorous, nectarivorous and insectivorous terrestrial animals then at the lower food web levels such as mammals, avialans (early birds and close relatives), squamate reptiles (lizards and snakes), lissamphibians (especially frogs) and web-spinning spiders, during the Cretaceous period.

After the K-Pg extinction event devastated the Mesozoic terrestrial ecosystems and wiped out nearly all animals weighing more than 25 kg (55 lb), the survivors among these smaller animals that thrived during the KTR recovered first to reoccupy the ecological niches vacated by the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs and pterosaurs, and therefore became the dominant clades of the Cenozoic terrestrial faunas. Flowering plants also quickly became the mainstream florae during the Cenozoic, replacing the previously more prevalent gymnosperms and ferns.

Caterpillars (/ˈkætərpɪlər/ KAT-ər-pil-ər) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths).

As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Symphyta) are commonly called caterpillars as well. Both lepidopteran and symphytan larvae have eruciform body shapes.

The docks and sorrels, genus Rumex, are a genus of about 200 species of annual, biennial, and perennial herbs in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae.Members of this genus are very common perennial herbs with a native almost worldwide distribution, and introduced species growing in the few places where the genus is not native.

Some are nuisance weeds (and are sometimes called dockweed or dock weed), but some are grown for their edible leaves. Rumex species are used as food plants by the larvae of a number of Lepidoptera species, and are the only host plants of Lycaena dispar and Lycaena rubidus.

Edmund Brisco "Henry" Ford FRS FRCP (23 April 1901 – 2 January 1988) was a British ecological geneticist. He was a leader among those British biologists who investigated the role of natural selection in nature. As a schoolboy Ford became interested in lepidoptera, the group of insects which includes butterflies and moths. He went on to study the genetics of natural populations, and invented the field of ecological genetics. Ford was awarded the Royal Society's Darwin Medal in 1954. In the wider world his best known work is Butterflies (1945). Ford was a member of the UK Eugenics Society, of which he was a council member in 1933-1934, also contributing to its publications.

Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (suborder Rhopalocera) and neither subordinate taxon is used in modern classifications. Moths make up the vast majority of the order. There are approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of which have yet to be described. Most species of moth are nocturnal, although there are also crepuscular and diurnal species.

Parasitoid wasps are a large group of hymenopteran superfamilies, with all but the wood wasps (Orussoidea) being in the wasp-waisted Apocrita. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthropods, sooner or later causing the death of these hosts. Different species specialise in hosts from different insect orders, most often Lepidoptera, though some select beetles, flies, or bugs; the spider wasps (Pompilidae) exclusively attack spiders.

Parasitoid wasp species differ in which host life-stage they attack: eggs, larvae, pupae, or adults. They mainly follow one of two major strategies within parasitism: either they are endoparasitic, developing inside the host, and koinobiont, allowing the host to continue to feed, develop, and moult; or they are ectoparasitic, developing outside the host, and idiobiont, paralysing the host immediately. Some endoparasitic wasps of the superfamily Ichneumonoidea have a mutualistic relationship with polydnaviruses, the viruses suppressing the host's immune defenses.

A tympanal organ (or tympanic organ) is a hearing organ in insects, consisting of a tympanal membrane (tympanum) stretched across a frame backed by an air sac and associated sensory neurons. Sounds vibrate the membrane, and the vibrations are sensed by a chordotonal organ. Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, ants, etc.) do not have a tympanal organ, but they do have a Johnston's organ.

Tympanal organs have evolved in at least seven different orders of insects. Tympanal organs can occur in just about any part of the insect: the thorax, the base of the wing, the abdomen, the legs, etc., depending on the group of insects. The structures are thought to have evolved independently many times. As a result, their position and structures are often used to help determine the taxonomy of the species. For example, all members of the Geometridae share distinctive paired abdominal tympanal organs that open towards the front side of the first abdominal segment. Within the organ, particular structures vary in shape and are used to indicate shared ancestry of subfamilies. In other families of Lepidoptera having abdominal tympanal organs, the opening may be in a different orientation and the structures differ in shape.

Amphiesmenoptera is an insect superorder, established by S. G. Kiriakoff, but often credited to Willi Hennig in his revision of insect taxonomy for two sister orders: Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and Trichoptera (caddisflies). In 2017, a third fossil order was added to the group, the Tarachoptera.

Trichoptera and Lepidoptera share a number of derived characters (synapomorphies) which demonstrate their common descent:

Genetically modified crops (GM crops) are plants used in agriculture, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering methods. Plant genomes can be engineered by physical methods or by use of Agrobacterium for the delivery of sequences hosted in T-DNA binary vectors. In most cases, the aim is to introduce a new trait to the plant which does not occur naturally in the species. Examples in food crops include resistance to certain pests, diseases, environmental conditions, reduction of spoilage, resistance to chemical treatments (e.g. resistance to a herbicide), or improving the nutrient profile of the crop. Examples in non-food crops include genetically modified trees for silviculture, and production of pharmaceutical agents, biofuels, and other industrially useful goods, as well as for bioremediation.

Farmers have widely adopted GM technology. Acreage increased from 1.7 million hectares in 1996 to 185.1 million hectares in 2016, some 12% of global cropland. As of 2016, major crop (soybean, maize, canola and cotton) traits consist of herbicide tolerance (95.9 million hectares) insect resistance (25.2 million hectares), or both (58.5 million hectares). In 2015, 53.6 million ha of Genetically modified maize were under cultivation (almost 1/3 of the maize crop). GM maize outperformed its predecessors: yield was 5.6 to 24.5% higher with less mycotoxins (−28.8%), fumonisin (−30.6%) and thricotecens (−36.5%). Non-target organisms were unaffected, except for lower populations some parasitoid wasps due to decreased populations of their pest host European corn borer; European corn borer is a target of Lepidoptera active Bt maize. Biogeochemical parameters such as lignin content did not vary, while biomass decomposition was higher.

Crotalaria is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae (subfamily Faboideae) commonly known as rattlepods. The genus includes over 700 species of herbaceous plants and shrubs. Africa is the continent with the majority of Crotalaria species (approximately 400 species), which are mainly found in damp grassland, especially in floodplains, depressions and along edges of swamps and rivers, but also in deciduous bush land, roadsides and fields. Some species of Crotalaria are grown as ornamentals. The common name rattlepod or rattlebox is derived from the fact that the seeds become loose in the pod as they mature, and rattle when the pod is shaken. The name derives from the Ancient Greek κρόταλον, meaning "castanet", and is the same root as the name for the rattlesnakes (Crotalus).

Crotalaria species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Endoclita sericeus, Etiella zinckenella and Utetheisa ornatrix. The toxic alkaloids produced by some members of this genus are known to be incorporated by Utetheisia larvae and used to secure their defense from predators.

Ceiba is a genus of trees in the family Malvaceae, native to tropical and subtropical areas of the Americas (from Mexico and the Caribbean to northern Argentina) and tropical West Africa. Some species can grow to 70 m (230 ft) tall or more, with a straight, largely branchless trunk that culminates in a huge, spreading canopy, and buttress roots that can be taller than a grown person. The best-known, and most widely cultivated, species is kapok, Ceiba pentandra, one of several trees known as kapok. Ceiba is a word from the Taíno language meaning "boat" because Taínos use the wood to build their dugout canoes.

Ceiba species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species, including the leaf-miner Bucculatrix ceibae, which feeds exclusively on the genus.

Saturniidae, members of which are commonly named the saturniids, is a family of Lepidoptera with an estimated 2,300 described species. The family contains some of the largest species of moths in the world. Notable members include the emperor moths, royal moths, and giant silk moths (or wild silk moths).

Adults are characterized by large, lobed wings, heavy bodies covered in hair-like scales, and reduced mouthparts. They lack a frenulum, but the hindwings overlap the forewings to produce the effect of an unbroken wing surface. Saturniids are sometimes brightly colored and often have translucent eyespots or "windows" on their wings. Sexual dimorphism varies by species, but males can generally be distinguished by their larger, broader antennae.

Thysanura is the now deprecated name of what was, for over a century, recognised as an order in the class Insecta. The two constituent groups within the former order, the Archaeognatha (jumping bristletails) and the Zygentoma (silverfish and firebrats), share several characteristics, such as of having three long caudal filaments, the lateral ones being the cerci, while the one between (telson) is a medial cerciform appendage, specifically an epiproct. They are also both wingless, and have bodies covered with fine scales, rather like the scales of the practically unrelated Lepidoptera. In the late 20th century, it was recognized that the two suborders were not sister taxa, therefore Thysanura was paraphyletic, and the two suborders were each raised to the status of an independent monophyletic order, with Archaeognatha sister taxon to the Dicondylia, including the Zygentoma.

Although the group Thysanura is no longer recognized, the name still appears in some published material. Another name used to separate the two groups from winged insects is Apterygota.

Pieris (/ˈpaɪ.ərɪs/ or /ˈpɪərɪs/) is a genus of seven species of shrubs in the flowering plant family Ericaceae, native to mountain regions of eastern and southern Asia, eastern North America and Cuba. Known commonly in North America as andromedas or fetterbushes, they are broad-leaved evergreen shrubs growing to 1–6 metres (3–20 ft) tall and 0.9–3.0 m (3–10 ft) wide. The leaves are spirally arranged, often appearing to be in whorls at the end of each shoot with bare stretches of shoot below; they are lanceolate-ovate, 2–10 cm (1–4 in) long and 1.0–3.5 cm (1⁄2–1+1⁄2 in) broad, leathery textured, and with an entire or serrated margin. The young leaves in spring are typically brightly coloured. The flowers, which may have a very appealing honey scent, are bell-shaped, 5–15 mm (3⁄16–9⁄16 in) long, white or pink, and arranged in racemes 5–12 cm (2–4+1⁄2 in) long. The fruit is a woody capsule which splits into five sections to release the numerous small seeds.

Pieris species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including the engrailed.