Agathiphaga

{{Short description|Genus of moths}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Agathiphaga vitiensis (from Centre for Biodiversity Genomics).jpg

| image_caption = Agathiphaga vitiensis

| display_parents = 3

| greatgrandparent_authority = Speidel, 1977

| grandparent_authority = N. P. Kristensen, 1967

| parent_authority = N. P. Kristensen, 1967

| taxon = Agathiphaga

| authority = Dumbleton, 1952

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

• A. queenslandensis Dumbleton, 1952
• A. vitiensis Dumbleton, 1952

}}

Agathiphaga is a genus of moths, known as kauri moths, and is the only living genus in the family Agathiphagidae. This caddisfly-like lineage of primitive moths was first reported by Lionel Jack Dumbleton in 1952, as a new genus of Micropterigidae.{{cite journal |author=Lionel Jack Dumbleton |author-link=Lionel Jack Dumbleton |year=1952 |title=A new genus of seed-infesting micropterygid moths |journal=Pacific Science |volume=6 |pages=17–29 |url=http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/8753/1/vol6n1-17-29.pdf |access-date=2010-08-31 |archive-date=2021-01-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119015000/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/8753/1/vol6n1-17-29.pdf |url-status=live }}

The caterpillars feed only on "kauri" (Agathis) and are currently considered the second most primitive living lineage of moths after Micropterigoidea.{{cite book |author=N. P. Kristensen |year=1999 |chapter=The non-Glossatan moths |pages=41–49 |editor=N. P. Kristensen |title=Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies Volume 1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography |series=Handbook of Zoology. A Natural History of the phyla of the Animal Kingdom. Volume IV Arthropoda: Insecta Part 35 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter}} The larvae have been reported to be able to survive for 12 years in diapause,{{cite journal |author=M. S. Upton |year=1997 |title=A twelve-year larval diapause in the Queensland kauri moth, Agathiphaga queenslandiae Dumbleton (Lepidoptera: Agathiphagidae) |journal=The Entomologist |volume=116 |pages=142–143}} durability possibly a prerequisite to its possible dispersion around the Pacific islands in the seeds of Agathis.

Dumbleton described two species. Agathiphaga queenslandensis is found along the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia, and its larvae feed on Agathis robusta.{{cite web |url=http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/abrs/online-resources/fauna/afd/taxa/Agathiphaga_queenslandensis |title=Species Agathiphaga queenslandensis Dumbleton, 1952 |work=Australian Faunal Directory |date=October 9, 2008 |publisher=Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts |access-date=August 31, 2010 |archive-date=April 5, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110405014327/http://environment.gov.au/biodiversity/abrs/online-resources/fauna/afd/taxa/Agathiphaga_queenslandensis |url-status=live }} Agathiphaga vitiensis is found from Fiji to Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, and its larvae feed on Agathis vitiensis.

A fossil member of Agathiphagidae, Agathiphagama, is known from the Burmese amber of Myanmar, dating to the early Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, approximately 99 million years ago.{{Cite journal|last1=Mey|first1=Wolfram|last2=Léger|first2=Théo|last3=Lien|first3=Vu Van|date=2021-10-03|title=New taxa of extant and fossil primitive moths in South-East Asia and their biogeographic significance (Lepidoptera, Micropterigidae, Agathiphagidae, Lophocoronidae)|url=https://nl.pensoft.net/article/52350/|journal=Nota Lepidopterologica|language=en|volume=44()|pages=29–56|doi=10.3897/nl.44.52350|issn=2367-5365|doi-access=free|access-date=2024-05-17|archive-date=2021-06-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624195250/https://nl.pensoft.net/article/52350/|url-status=live}}