Standard descriptive matrices in the identification of exophytophagous caterpillars

The data set consists of numerically encoded morphological, autecological and behavioral characters of 83 species of exophytophagous lepidopteran larvae primarily belonging to the informal Macrolepidoptera group. By inspecting all of their polyphenisms, in terms of morphology, resources and habits, the data set encompasses 582 fully described cases. Each case is labeled according to the nature of the variable character class: e stands for autecological or habitual profile, and is accompanied by consecutive numbers; m stands morphological polyphenisms, and both letters present state that the species has two-level variability.