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Papilionoidea
	Papilio demodocus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia;
Phylum:	Arthropoda;
Class:	Insecta;
Order:	Lepidoptera;
Suborder:	Ditrysia;
(unranked):	Rhopalocera;
Superfamily:	Papilionoidea; Latreille, 1802
Families
	Papilionidae; Pieridae; Nymphalidae; Lycaenidae; Riodinidae;

Brush-footed butterfly of subfamily Charaxinae

The superfamily Papilionoidea (from the genus Papilio, meaning "butterfly") contains all the butterflies except for the skippers, which are classified in superfamily Hesperioidea, and the moth-like Hedyloidea.

A proposed phylogenetic position of the Papilionoidea is as follows:^[1]

Rhopalocera

	Papilionoidea (true butterflies)

	Hesperiidae (skippers)

	Hedylidae (American butterfly moths)

Some authors treat this group as a series Papilioniformes within a single superfamily that also includes the skippers. However not all authors agree that all the butterflies constitute a single clade. The skippers are significantly different from the other butterflies. The members of the Papilionoidea may be distinguished by the following combination of characters:

the body is smaller and less moth-like.
the wings are larger.
the antennae are straight and clubbed (rather than hooked as in the skippers).
the caterpillars do not spin cocoons to pupate in.
the pupae are angular rather than rounded.

[edit] Families of Papilionoidea

The five well-supported families of Papilionoidea are:

Swallowtails and Birdwings, Papilionidae
Whites or Yellow-Whites, Pieridae
Blues and Coppers or Gossamer-Winged Butterflies, Lycaenidae
Metalmark butterflies, Riodinidae
Brush-footed butterflies, Nymphalidae which contain the following 13 subfamilies:
- the snout butterflies or Libytheinae (formerly the family Libytheidae).
- the Danaids or Danainae (formerly the family Danaidae).
- the Tellervinae.
- the glasswings or Ithomiinae.
- the Calinaginae.
- the morphos and owls or Morphinae (including the owls as tribe Brassolini).
- the Browns or Satyrinae (formerly the family Satyridae).
- the Charaxinae (preponas and leaf butterflies).
- the Biblidinae.
- the Apaturinae.
- the nymphs or Nymphalinae.
- the Limenitidinae (especially the adelphas) (formerly the family Limenitididae).
- the tropical longwings or Heliconiinae.

Of the subfamilies of Nymphalidae, only the Morphinae and Satyrinae are possibly paraphyletic, but these two subfamilies form a strongly-supported clade with the Charaxinae as sister-group.^[2]

[edit] References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Papilionoidea

Wikispecies has information related to: Papilionoidea

^ Tree of Life Accessed January 2007
^ Gerardo Lamas (2008) Systematics of butterflies (Lepidoptera: Hesperioidea and Papilionoidea) in the world: current state and future perspectives (in Spanish). In: Jorge Llorente-Bousquets and Analía Lanteri (eds.) Contribuiciones taxonómicas en ordens de insectos hiperdiversos. Mexico City: UNAM. Pp. 57-70.

[0] Tree of Life Accessed January 2007

[1] Gerardo Lamas (2008) Systematics of butterflies (Lepidoptera: Hesperioidea and Papilionoidea) in the world: current state and future perspectives (in Spanish). In: Jorge Llorente-Bousquets and Analía Lanteri (eds.) Contribuiciones taxonómicas en ordens de insectos hiperdiversos. Mexico City: UNAM. Pp. 57-70.

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