LONG-CHAIN FATTY-ACIDS AND SYSTEMATICS OF THE TINEIDAE (LEPIDOPTERA)

Species-specific differences found in quantitative data on the fatty a cid content of extracts of whole moths are compared for four species o f Tinea, Tineola bisselliella (subfamily Tineinae) and representatives of the tineid subfamilies Nemapogoninae and Scardiinae. The level of the three main fatty acids palmitolic acid (9-hexadecenoic acid), hexa decanoic acid and oleic acid (9-octadecenoic acid) could be used to di stinguish between these species with 95-100% accuracy. Centroid cluste r analysis produced a phenogram that was almost entirely consistent wi th the current view of the phylogeny of these taxa and provided furthe r evidence for the close relationship between Tineola bisselliella and Tinea. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.