Macrosoma hedylaria, photographed by Lars Andersen.
Contains: Hesperioidea, Papilionidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae, Lycaenidae, Nymphidiini.
The Rhopalocera includes the butterflies and skippers. The butterflies and most skippers are the best known of the day-flying Lepidoptera, but the basal Hedylidae are nocturnal.
Synapomorphies (from Grimaldi & Engel 2005): Abdominal tergite 1 pouched; eggs resting upright; pupa girdled.
[B66a] Butler, A. G. 1866a. Descriptions of some new exotic butterflies in the National Collection. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 39-42.
[B66b] Butler, A. G. 1866b. A monograph of the genus Euptychia, a numerous race of butterflies belonging to the family Satyridae; with descriptions of sixty species new to science, and notes on their affinities &c. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 458-504.
[FS54] Franz, E., & H. Schröder. 1954. Tagfalter (Lep. Rhopalocera) aus El Salvador. Senckenbergiana Biologica 35: 75-87.
[HH02] Hall, J. P. W., & D. J. Harvey. 2002. Basal subtribes of the Nymphidiini (Lepidoptera: Riodinidae): phylogeny and myrmecophily. Cladistics 18: 539-569.
[V-W04] Vane-Wright, D. 2004. Butterflies at that awkward age. Nature 428: 477-480.
[WM66] Wallace, A. R., & F. Moore. 1866. List of lepidopterous insects collected at Takow, Formosa, by Mr. R. Swinhoe. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 355-365.