Andesiana is a genus representing its own family Andesianidae and superfamily Andesianoidea, the "Andean endemic moths". It contains three species with a wingspan up to 5.4 cm. in female A. similis and 3.5 cm. in males (Davis and Gentili, 2003). This far surpasses in size any previously known monotrysia

Monotrysia

The Monotrysia is a group of insects in the Lepidopteran order which is not currently considered to be a natural group or clade. The group contains only moths and most of these are small and are relatively understudied in many regions of the world...

n moth. These large Microlepidoptera

Microlepidoptera

Microlepidoptera is an artificial grouping of moth families, commonly known as the 'smaller moths' . These generally have a wingspan of under 20 mm, and are thus harder to identify by external phenotypic markings than macrolepidoptera...

http://www.leptree.net/Andesiana_habitus are restricted to Andean South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, from where they were described

Binomial nomenclature

Binomial nomenclature is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, although they can be based on words from other languages...

 originally in 1989 in the family Cossidae

Cossidae

Cossidae, the cossid millers or carpenter millers, make up a family of mostly large miller moths. Ths family contains over 110 genera with almost 700 known species, and many more species await description...

 by their discoverer Patricia Gentili.

Systematics

The vein

Glossary of Lepidopteran terms

This glossary describes the terms used in the formal descriptions of insect species, jargon used mostly by professionals or entomologist....

 "R2" in the hindwing is two-branched, suggesting that the Andesianidae is basal to the superfamily Nepticulidae

Nepticulidae

Nepticulidae is a family of very small moths with a worldwide distribution. They are characterised by eyecaps over the eyes . These pigmy moths or midget moths, as they are commonly known, include the smallest of all living moths, with a wingspan that can be as little as 3 mm...

, but the way the wings are coupled suggests it had a later origination within the Monotrysia

Monotrysia

The Monotrysia is a group of insects in the Lepidopteran order which is not currently considered to be a natural group or clade. The group contains only moths and most of these are small and are relatively understudied in many regions of the world...

, where it can be placed based on characters of the female reproductive system (Davis and Gentili, 2003). The relationships of Andesiana with representatives of other lepidopteran superfamilies is currently under investigation using DNA sequences http://www.leptree.net/.

Morphology and identification

The labial palpi

Glossary of Lepidopteran terms

This glossary describes the terms used in the formal descriptions of insect species, jargon used mostly by professionals or entomologist....

 have an elongated second segment, the
tibia

Glossary of Lepidopteran terms

This glossary describes the terms used in the formal descriptions of insect species, jargon used mostly by professionals or entomologist....

 of the male hindleg has a "hairpencil" contained in a pouch on the femur

Glossary of Lepidopteran terms

This glossary describes the terms used in the formal descriptions of insect species, jargon used mostly by professionals or entomologist....

, and the antennae

Glossary of Lepidopteran terms

This glossary describes the terms used in the formal descriptions of insect species, jargon used mostly by professionals or entomologist....

 are "bipectinate" in the male and "filiform" in the female; the proboscis

Glossary of Lepidopteran terms

This glossary describes the terms used in the formal descriptions of insect species, jargon used mostly by professionals or entomologist....

 is much reduced. See Davis and Gentili (2003) for additional details, such as genitalia

Glossary of Lepidopteran terms

This glossary describes the terms used in the formal descriptions of insect species, jargon used mostly by professionals or entomologist....

 characters distinguishing this group.

Distribution

Nothofagus

Nothofagus

Nothofagus, also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 35 species of trees and shrubs native to the temperate oceanic to tropical Southern Hemisphere in southern South America and Australasia...

forests of Andean Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

 and Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 (Davis and Gentili, 2003).

Nomenclatural notes

Lepindex http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/research-curation/projects/lepindex/ accessed March 2007 incorrectly places the species "neurotenes Turner 1932" from Queensland in the genus "Andesiana, Gentili, 1986" of which the database suggests Archaeoses Turner, 1932 (a cossid http://www.ento.csiro.au/gallery/moths/Archaeosespentasema)is a junior subjective synonym. Presumably this is not to be confused with an Oecophoridae

Oecophoridae

Oecophoridae is a family of small moths in the superfamily Gelechioidea. The phylogeny and systematics of gelechoid moths are still not fully resolved, and the circumscription of the Oecophoridae is strongly affected by this....

moth of the same name neurotenes described by Turner in the genus Antiopala in 1939 and currently placed in the genus Prepalla http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/abrs/online-resources/fauna/afd/taxa/OECOPHORIDAE