Uraniidae, Leach, 1815

Pohl, Greg, Anweiler, Gary, Schmidt, Christian & Kondla, Norbert, 2010, An annotated list of the Lepidoptera of Alberta, Canada, ZooKeys 38 (38), pp. 1-549 : 194

54. Uraniidae – swallowtail moths

Mostly small (15–20 mm wingspan) moths reminiscent of geometrids. Most North American species have drably colored wings, but several tropical species, including one stray in the southern United States, are very large, brightly colored species that are reminiscent of papilionids. Th e family is defined by characters of the abdominal tympanum and wing venation. Some species, including the AB species, have notched hindwings. Th ese moths exhibit a unique resting behaviour: the forewings are outstretched and appressed to the substrate, while the hindwings are held partially folded along the side of the abdomen. Larvae are often gregarious in a web, and they feed on a variety of plants.

Approximately 700 species of Uraniidae are known worldwide, primarily from the tropics. Nine species are known in North America; one of these occurs in AB. North American species have not been revised recently; the sole AB species was illustrated by Covell (1984).