Members of the Dioptinae, a tropical subgroup of the Notodontidae or "Prominent moths," exhibit many unique features. First, dioptines are the only prominents with brightly-colored wing patterns, and whose members fly in the day rather than at night. Second, the caterpillars of many dioptines feed on toxic plants such as "passion vine" and "pipevine." In contrast, the larvae of other prominents feed on trees, most of which do not contain toxins. Recent work has shown that dioptines are highly specialized notodontids. Parallels can therefore be drawn between the Dioptinae and the butterflies, which are also thought to have evolved from a drab, nocturnal, moth-like ancestor. The major goal of this proposal is to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the Dioptinae based on comparative morphology of adult and larval stages. The dioptine phylogeny will then serve as a framework for a new classification, and will also be used to examine two questions: First, when did toxic plant-feeding evolve in the Dioptinae? Second, when did day-flying behavior evolve?
