The spectacular diversity of larval cases of an endemic Hawaiian moth, genus Hyposmocoma (Lepidoptera: Cosmopterigidae), radiation suggests complex evolutionary patterns

The endemic Hawaiian moth genus Hyposmocoma (Cosmopterigidae) contains well over 400 species, each apparently restricted to a single island. The larvae bear unusual and diverse cases which appear to have some phylogenetic relevance based on molecular systematic analysis of multiple genes. However, the diversity of case types is not strictly correlated with phylogeny or with the ecology of the larvae suggesting more complicated interactions between inheritance and selection.