Chrysauginae


The Chrysauginae are a subfamily of snout moths. They are primarily Neotropical and include about 400 described species.

Description and ecology

The subfamily includes the sloth moths. The caterpillar larvae of these species feed on the dung of sloths, and adults live in the sloths' fur. Other unusual Chrysauginae caterpillars have been found in Hymenoptera nests and on the spines of caterpillars of the brush-footed butterfly genus Automeris. However, their larvae usually feed on plants, boring into seed, fruits, stems and roots, or rolling and spinning leaves together to form a hideout.
While the adults are fairly undistinguished, Chrysauginae larvae can usually be recognized unequivocally by the sclerotised ring around seta SD1 of the metathorax.

Systematics

In 1995, Solis et al. compiled a checklist of Chrysauginae for the Western Hemisphere. However, phylogenetic analyses have not been conducted. Shaffer et al. tentatively placed four Australian genera in the subfamily in 1996; research on the adults failed to support this, and larvae are unknown.