Microlepidoptera (micromoths) is an artificial (i.e., unranked and not

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

) grouping of

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

families, commonly known as the "smaller moths" ( micro,

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

). These generally have wingspans of under 20 mm, so are harder to identify by external phenotypic markings than macrolepidoptera. They present some lifestyles that the larger Lepidoptera do not have, but this is not an identifying mark. Some hobbyists further divide this group into separate groups, such as leaf miners or rollers, stem or root borers, and then usually follow the more rigorous scientific taxonomy of lepidopterans. Efforts to stabilize the term have usually proven inadequate.

Diversity

Vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

usage divides the Lepidoptera simply into smaller and larger or into more-primitive and less-primitive groups, microlepidoptera and macrolepidoptera, respectively. Intuitively, the "micros" are any lepidopteran not currently placed in the macrolepidoptera. This

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

assemblage, however, includes also the superfamilies Zygaenoidea, Sesioidea, and Cossoidea that would in common parlance normally be lumped with the "macros". A lepidopterist might call these groups "primitive macros". Furthermore, even all of the non ditrysian moths are not small. For example, the Hepialidae or "swift moths" (up to 25 cm wingspan) fall quite basally in the lepidopteran "tree of life". The primitive superfamily Andesianoidea was formerly included within the Cossoidae and elevated in 2001, these moths have up to an order of magnitude greater wingspan (5.5 cm) than most previously known monotrysian "micros". Whilst the smaller moths are usually also more seldom noticed, a more expansive "nonmacrolepidopteran" concept of the microlepidoptera would include about 37 out of the roughly 47 superfamilies. Whilst usually less popular, micros are thus more important in the sense that they include a much wider span of the "tree of life" (i.e.,

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

diversity). Whereas they include no butterflies, micros do also include a surprising number of day-flying groups, and the advent of online identification resources in many countries (e.g. "UK moth

combined with the widespread use of digital macrophotography, is making them much easier to identify.

Lifestyle

Microlepidoptera can be found in a broad variety of habitats and

ecological niche In ecology, a niche is the match of a species to a specific environmental condition. Three variants of ecological niche are described by It describes how an organism or population responds to the distribution of Resource (biology), resources an ...

s worldwide, both terrestrial and

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

aquatic (e.g. Acentropinae). They have a wide variety of feeding habits in both

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

l and adult life stages.

Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

s feed on a wide variety of plant tissue and across a wide spectrum of plant groups from

liverworts Liverworts are a group of non-vascular plant, non-vascular embryophyte, land plants forming the division Marchantiophyta (). They may also be referred to as hepatics. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in wh ...

to angiosperms. They are either external feeders ("exophagous") or more usually feed internally ("endophagous"), typically as miners or tunnellers, but some feed on

fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

, scavenge on dead animals, are parasitoids usually of other

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s (some Zygaenoidea) or are detritivores, and '' Hyposmocoma molluscivora'' even feeds on live snails. Adult moths feed with mandibles on spores and pollen ( Micropterigidae) on dew (e.g. Eriocraniidae), with their probosces on nectar (many groups e.g. Choreutidae) or are simply nonfeeding with mouthparts reduced or absent. The larvae of many smaller moths are considered economic pests, causing damage to plants, as well as fabrics and other manmade goods. Commonly noticed "micros" include the plume moth and the various species of clothes moth.

Main groups

The list below is ordered initially in approximate order of species diversity and ecological abundance. The first four superfamilies listed here may comprise 90% of species in a sample of smaller moths and the listed characters may be of some assistance to sort these out, particularly the form of the labial palp and scaling of the proboscis (Robinson et al. 2001). 1. Curved horn moths, twirler moths, case-bearers and allies – 16,250 spp. *

Gelechioidea __NOTOC__ Gelechioidea (from the type genus ''Gelechia'', "keeping to the ground") is the Taxonomic rank, superfamily of moths that contains the case-bearers, twirler moths, and relatives, also simply called curved-horn moths or gelechioid moths. ...

: Head smooth-scaled, labial palps usually are slender, recurved, with the terminal segment long and pointed; the long proboscis bears scales on basal half. Resting posture very varied. **

Gelechiidae The Gelechiidae are a family of moths commonly referred to as twirler moths or gelechiid moths. They are the namesake family of the huge and little-studied Taxonomic rank, superfamily Gelechioidea, and the family's taxonomy (biology), taxonomy ...

– twirler moths ** Oecophoridae – concealer moths ** Lecithoceridae – tropical longhorned moths **

Cosmopterigidae The Cosmopterigidae are a family of insects (cosmet moths) in the order Lepidoptera. These are small moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previ ...

– cosmet moths ** Coleophoridae – case-bearers **

Elachistidae The Elachistidae (grass-miner moths) are a family of small moths in the Taxonomic rank, superfamily Gelechioidea. Some authors lumpers and splitters, lump about 3,300 species in eight subfamilies here, but this arrangement almost certainly result ...

– grass-miner miners ** Momphidae – mompha moths ** Ethmiidae ** Blastobasidae – scavenger moths ** Batrachedridae – flower moths ** Scythrididae – flower moths ** Pterolonchidae – lance-wing moths ** Symmocidae ** Agonoxenidae – palm moths ** Holcopogonidae ** Metachandidae 2. Pyralids, snout moths and grass moths – 16,000 spp. * Pyraloidea: Head rough-scaled, proboscis scaled, tympanal organs on abdomen; labial palps usually not recurved, terminal segment usually blunt. Hindwing veins ("Sc" + "R1") and "Rs" are close or fused in the middle of the wing; resting posture usually either with wings tightly rolled or and held quite flat to surface in triangular shape and with labial palps often projecting forward, giving Concorde-like appearance; antennae often swept back parallel together over body. Generally they are considered the closest group to ' macrolepidoptera', and maybe ancestral to it, macrolepidoptera itself is not a universally accepted taxon. **

Pyralidae The Pyralidae, commonly called pyralid moths, snout moths or grass moths, are a family of Lepidoptera in the ditrysian superfamily Pyraloidea. In many (particularly older) classifications, the grass moths (Crambidae) are included in the Pyr ...

– pyrales or snout moths **

Crambidae Crambidae comprises the grass moth family of lepidopterans. They are variable in appearance, with the nominal subfamily Crambinae (grass moths) taking up closely folded postures on grass stems where they are inconspicuous, while other subfamilies ...

– grass moths 3. Tortrix moths, leaf-roller moths, bell moths, codling moths and allies – 6,200 spp. * Tortricidae: Head rough-scaled, labial palps with short blunt apical segment, basal half of proboscis not scaled; wings held over back in tent-like or flattened position; forewing costa often quite strongly convex or sinuate in many Tortricinae giving bell-like shape 4. Clothes moths, bagworms and allies – 4,200 spp. * Tineoidea: Head often with tufty erect scales; labial palps usually have bristles on middle segment and terminal segment is long; wings usually held over back in tent-like position and head close to surface; tineids often run fast ** Tineidae – clothes moths and fungus moths ** Eriocottidae – Old World spiny winged moths ** Acrolophidae – tube moths ** Arrhenophanidae – tropical lattice moths ** Psychidae – bagworm moths ** Lypusidae – European bagworm moths 5, 6. Leaf miner moths – 3,200 spp. * Gracillarioidea – 2,300 spp. ** Gracillariidae – blotch leaf miner moths **

Bucculatricidae Bucculatricidae or (Bucculatrigidae) is a family of moths. This small family has representatives in all parts of the world. Some authors place the group as a subfamily of the family Lyonetiidae. Adults of this family are easily overlooked, bei ...

– ribbed cocoon makers ** Douglasiidae – Douglas moths ** Roeslerstammiidae – double-eye moths * Nepticuloidea – 900 spp. - eyecap moths ** Nepticulidae – pygmy eyecap moths ** Opostegidae – white eyecap moths 7. Ermine moths, webworm moths, yucca moths and allies – 1,500 spp. * Yponomeutoidea **

Yponomeutidae : ''Certain members of the unrelated snout moths (Pyralidae) are also known as "ermine moths." Spilosoma lubricipeda is an unrelated moth with the common name "white ermine."'' An ermine moth is any moth in the family Yponomeutidae, which has s ...

– ermine moths ** Acrolepiidae – false diamond-back moths ** Ypsolophidae ** Plutellidae – diamond-back moths and allies ** Glyphipterigidae – sedge moths ** Heliodinidae – sun moths ** Bedelliidae ** Lyonetiidae – lyonet moths 8, 9. Plume moths – 1,160 spp. * Pterophoridae – plume moths – 1,000 spp. * Alucitidae – many-plumed moths – 160 spp. 10. Tropical leaf moths or picture-winged moths – more than 1000 spp. * Thyrididae: Small mainly dayflying moths: 11. Fairy moths, longhorn moths and allies – 600 spp. * Adeloidea ** Incurvariidae – leaf-cutter moths ** Adelidae – fairy moths ** Heliozelidae – shield-bearer leaf-miners **

Prodoxidae The Prodoxidae are a family of moths, generally small in size and nondescript in appearance. They include species of moderate pest status, such as the Lampronia capitella, currant shoot borer, and others of considerable ecological and evolutionar ...

– yucca moths ** Cecidosidae – gall moths 12. Metalmark moths – 402 spp. * Choreutidae 13. Mandibulate archaic moths – 180 spp. * Micropterigidae 14. Sparkling archaic sun moths or spring jewel moths – 24 spp. * Eriocraniidae Superfamilies less likely to be encountered: 15. Tropical fruitworm moths – 318 spp. * Copromorphoidea ** Copromorphidae ** Carposinidae 16. Fringe tufted moths – 83 spp. * Epermeniidae 17. Blackberry leaf skeletonizer and allies – 8 spp. * Schreckensteiniidae 18. Immid moths – 250 spp. * Immidae 19. False burnet moths – 60 spp. * Urodidae 20. Tropical teak moths – 20 spp. * Hyblaeidae 21. Whalley's Malagasy moths – 2 spp. * Whalleyanidae More rarely encountered "primitive" families: 22. Kauri pine moths – 2 spp. * Agathiphagidae 22. Southern beech moths or Valdivian archaic moths – 9 spp. * Heterobathmiidae 23. Archaic sun moths – 4 spp. * Acanthopteroctetidae 24. Australian archaic sun moths – 6 spp. * Lophocoronidae 25. Archaic bell moths – 12 spp. * Neopseustidae 26. New Zealand endemic moths – 7 spp. * Mnesarchaeidae 27. Gondwanaland moths – 60 spp. * Palaephatidae 28. Trumpet leaf miner moths – 107 spp. * Tischeriidae 29. Simaethistid moths – 4 spp. * Simaethistidae 30. Galacticoid moths or webworm moths – 17 spp. * Galacticidae

Larger "micros"

These groups have been formerly included in macros by hobbyists. 'Archaic and primitive macros' is not a recommended name for these as it may create confusion of their placement in some classification systems. 31. Swift moths and allies – 544 spp. * Hepialoidea ** Hepialidae – swift moths ** Anomosetidae – Australian primitive ghost moths ** Prototheoridae – African primitive ghost moths ** Neotheoridae – Amazonian primitive ghost moths ** Palaeosetidae – miniature ghost moths Unassigned to superfamily: 32. Meyrick's mystic moth – 1 sp. * Prodidactidae Large monotrysian micros: 33. Andean endemic moths – 3 spp. * Andesianidae Large ditrysian micros (formerly 'primitive macros'): 34. Burnet moths, slug moths, hag moths, glass moths and allies – 2,600 spp. * Zygaenoidea ** Zygaenidae – burnet and forester moths ** Limacodidae – slug moths or saddleback caterpillar moths ** Megalopygidae – flannel moths **

Epipyropidae The Epipyropidae comprise a small family (biology), family of moths. This family and the closely related Cyclotornidae are unique among the Lepidoptera in that the larvae are ectoparasites, the hosts typically being Planthopper, fulgoroid planth ...

– planthopper parasite moths ** Heterogynidae – Mediterranean burnet moths ** Himantopteridae – long-tailed burnet moths ** Anomoeotidae ** Cyclotornidae – Australian parasite moths ** Somabrachyidae – African flannel moths ** Dalceridae – glass moths ** Lacturidae – Australian burnet moths ** Aididae 35. Clearwing moths, castniid moths, little bear moths and allies – 1,300 spp. * Sesioidea ** Sesiidae – clearwing moths ** Castniidae – castniid moths ** Brachodidae – little bear moths 36, 37. Goat or carpenter moths and allies – 676 spp. * Cossoidea ** Cossidae – goat moths, leopard moths or carpenterworm moths ** Dudgeoneidae – Dudgeon carpenterworm moths

Sources

* Robinson, G.S., Tuck, K.R., Shaffer, M. and Cook, K. (1994). ''The smaller moths of South-East Asia''. Malaysian Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur.
Common Name Index
{{Authority control Moth taxonomy Paraphyletic groups