Trichoptera paraphyletic!!??; 1994 book

[Alexey V. Kuprijanov]

Dear colleagues,

I enjoyed very much your lively exchange on the panbiogeography etc.
Now, a time has come to add my 2 pennies to the thread.

Though an amateur entomologist, I am working on groups that rarely
are of interest to amateurs. Now I am about to prepare two papers
dealing with upper-Jurassic moths. So, occasionally, I know something
which could be interesting for you in connection with the relationships
of Trichoptera to Lepidoptera.

Logically, Permian age of Lepidoptera is well justified. If one believes
that Lepidoptera are _the_ sister-group of Trichoptera, (s)he must conclude
inevitably that both orders are of the same age. Unfortunately, there are
NO reliable evidences of the presence of Lepidoptera even in Triassic,
let alone Palaeozoic. The earliest specimens which can be attributed
to Lepidoptera are from Jurassic. The Mezozoic Lepidoptera are etremely
scarce. The total number of the hitherto known _specimens_ approaches a score.
Perhaps, here lies the reason for their apparent absence from earlier
periods. Still, there are certain reasons to be optimistic about possible
pre-Jurassic findings. Most of the known Jurassic moths represent recent
taxa of approx. subordinal level (the only extinct Upper Jurassic -- Lower
Cretacious suborder Eolepidopterigina is, perhaps, a factitious assemblage
of forms which subordinal position will never ever be identified). This
is a good evidence for a pre-upper-Jurassic divergence of the suborders
within Lepidoptera, and hence, for an earlier origin of the whole order.

As to the paraphyly of Trichoptera in relation to Lepidoptera, I am rather
passimistic. In the face of an absence of the fossil record of Lepidoptera
in pre-Jurassic (better, Permian) deposits, we can rely on the comparative
anatomy only. But this excludes fossil Trichoptera from the analysis as well,
because they are poorly preserved and do not meet the requirements of a
detailed morphological study. Though limited, this method leads to the
conclusion that Trichoptera and Lepidoptera are sister-groups. I can not
say for sure that if a time-mashine brings me a permian caddisfly stored
in alcohol, my opinion about the relationship between the two orders remain
unchanged. But still...

Yours sincerely, Alexey
---
Alexey V. Kuprijanov                   * (Lepidoptera: Incurvarioidea)
Institute for the History of Science and Technology
Universitetskaya emb. 5
St. Petersburg 199034  R U S S I A     *     E-mail: Q at TINEA.USR.PU.RU