Eupithecia is a cosmopolitan genus of moths, with larvae that generally feed on flowers and seeds. However, in the Hawaiian Islands all but one Eupithecia species preys actively on flies and other small insects. This is the only known example of ambush predation in the Lepidoptera. The predatory larvae sit cryptically on a perch, such as a fern edge, or twig. Contact with a small insect elicits an ambush response; the larvae whips around its own axis, and sinks its elongate proleg claws into the prey. We reconstructed the phylogeny of the Hawaiian Eupithecia using 1270 base pairs of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I. The resultant phylogeny shows the predatory Eupithecia to be a monophyletic group, derived from herbivorous ancestors, with single origins for each perching preference. The rapid diversification in the predatory lineage suggests that the adaptive radiation may be a result of the shift to predation. For species in which only the adult is currently known, the phylogeny can be used to predict larval feeding behavior enhancing our understanding of these unique insects.
Species 1: Lepidoptera Geometridae Eupithecia (Hawaiian predatory caterpillar, pug moth)
Keywords: Lepidoptera, Evolution
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