| Bombycoidea | |
|---|---|
) | |
| Death's-head hawkmoth, Acherontia atropos | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Clade: | Eulepidoptera |
| Clade: | Ditrysia |
| Clade: | Apoditrysia |
| (unranked): | Obtectomera |
| Clade: | Macroheterocera |
| Superfamily: | Bombycoidea |
| Families | |
| Anthelidae | |
| Diversity | |
| Over 3,500 species | |
| Synonyms | |
| Sphingoidea | |
Bombycoidea is a superfamily of moths. It contains the silk moths, emperor moths, sphinx moths, and relatives. The Lasiocampoidea are close relatives and were historically sometimes merged in this group. After many years of debate and shifting taxonomies, the most recent classifications treat the superfamily as containing 10 constituent families.[1] Their larvae often exhibit horns.[2]
References
- ^ Kitching I, Rougerie R, Zwick A, Hamilton C, St Laurent R, Naumann S, Ballesteros Mejia L, Kawahara A (2018) A global checklist of the Bombycoidea (Insecta: Lepidoptera). Biodiversity Data Journal 6: e22236. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.6.e22236
- ^ Firefly Encyclopedia of Insects and Spiders, edited by Christopher O'Toole, ISBN 1-55297-612-2, 2002