Epermeniidae or the fringe-tufted moths is a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

insects Insects (from Latin ') are hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed ...

in the

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 ...

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

with about 14

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

. Previously they have been divided in two subfamilies Epermeniinae and Ochromolopinae (e.g. Common, 1990: 321) but this is no longer maintained since the last group is probably hierarchically nested within the first (Dugdale et al., 1999). They are presently placed in their own superfamily but have previously been placed among the Yponomeutoidea or Copromorphoidea with which they share some features. Their systematic placement among the apoditrysian group "Obtectomera" (having

pupa A pupa (; : pupae) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages th ...

l segments I-IV immobile) is however uncertain. They show some morphological similarities to the "plume moths" ( Alucitoidea and Pterophoroidea), for example the wing fringe has similar groups of

scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number ...

(Dugdale et al., 1999). There are also some similarities to Schreckensteinioidea, for example spiny legs and at least in some species an open-network cocoon. The genus '' Thambotricha'' from

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

may be the

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

of all other

extant Extant or Least-concern species, least concern is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Exta ...

members. The most important genera are '' Epermenia'', '' Ochromolopis'' and '' Gnathifera''. The group has been extensively revised and catalogued by Dr Reinhard Gaedike (e.g. Gaedike, 1977, 1979).

Identification

Epermeniidae are small narrow-winged moths, having a span of 7–20 mm, with conspicuous whorls of bristles on their legs, lacking spines on the abdomen unlike some similar moths. The smoothly scaled head bears no

ocelli A simple eye or ocellus (sometimes called a pigment pit) is a form of eye or an optical arrangement which has a single lens without the sort of elaborate retina that occurs in most vertebrates. These eyes are called "simple" to distinguish the ...

or "chaetosemata". They are most easily confused with Stathmopodinae (

Oecophoridae Oecophoridae (concealer moths) 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. ...

), which unlike epermeniids have the tarsi of the forelegs and midlegs without the whorls of spines, and whose proboscis is scaled at the base. The projecting scale tufts on the inner margin of the hindwing is the easiest field character (Common, 1990).

Distribution

Epermeniidae occur worldwide in both

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

and

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

regions and especially in

montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

areas, but are sparsely known from the

Afrotropics The Afrotropical realm is one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Sub-Saharan Africa, the southern Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, and the islands of the western Indian Ocean. It was formerly known as the Ethiopi ...

. ''Gnathifera'' occurs from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

; ''Epermenia'' ranges from the

Palaearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

to Indo-Australia and the

Pacific islands The Pacific islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of several ...

Behaviour

Epermeniidae are

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

as adults and well-

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

d. They rest parallel to the surface with their wings held over their back in a tent-like manner (Robinson et al., 1994).

Biology

The

caterpillars 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 Sym ...

feed inside almost any plant parts (fruits, seeds, galls, leaves or flowers), sometimes in a mine or sometimes exposed or under silk on the leaf surface; unlike some Lepidoptera the

is not extruded from the cocoon, and may be found in its fine open-network cocoon on the plant or amongst debris on the ground.

Host plants

Many species in Europe feed on

umbel UMBEL (Upper Mapping and Binding Exchange Layer) is a logically organized knowledge graph of 34,000 concepts and entity types that can be used in information science for relating information from disparate sources to one another. It was retired ...

s of

Apiaceae Apiaceae () or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium,'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot, or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering p ...

, and '' Epermenia chaerophyllella'' is a pest of cultivated species. Other species feed on the parasitic plant families

Santalaceae The Santalaceae, sandalwoods, are a widely distributed family of flowering plants (including small trees, shrubs, perennial plants, perennial herbs, and epiphyte, epiphytic climbersHewson & George t al.'Santalaceae'' taxonomy, 1984, pp. 191-1 ...

(e.g. the Australian quandong moth) and

Loranthaceae Loranthaceae, commonly known as the showy mistletoes, is a family of flowering plants. It consists of about 75 genera and 1,000 species of woody plants, many of them hemiparasites. The three terrestrial species are '' Nuytsia floribunda'' (the ...

, or on

Pinaceae The Pinaceae (), or pine family, are conifer trees or shrubs, including many of the well-known conifers of commercial importance such as Cedrus, cedars, firs, Tsuga, hemlocks, Pinyon_pine, piñons, larches, pines and spruces. The family is incl ...

Pittosporaceae Pittosporaceae is a family of flowering plants that consists of 200–240 species of trees, shrubs, and lianas in 9 genera. Habitats range from tropical to temperate climates of the Afrotropical, Indomalayan, Oceanian, and Australasian r ...

and

Leguminosae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

.Search Results: Family Epermeniidae
''HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants''. Natural History Museum, London. Retrieved April 2, 2018.

Systematics

* '' Africepermenia'' Gaedike, 2004 * '' Agiton'' Turner, 1926 * '' Epermenia'' Hübner, 1825 ** =''Acanthedra'' Meyrick, 1917 ** =''Calotripis'' Hübner, 1825 ** =''Chauliodus'' Treitschke, 1833 ** =''Epermeniola'' Gaedike, 1968 ** =''Lophonotus'' Stephens, 1829 ** =''Tichotripis'' Hübner, 1825 ** =''Epimarptis'' Meyrick, 1914 ** =''Temeluchella'' T. B. Fletcher, 1940 ** =''Temelucha'' Meyrick, 1909 ** =''Cataplectica'' Walsingham, 1894 ** ='' Heydenia'' Hofmann, 1868 * '' Gnathifera'' Gaedike, 1978 * '' Inuncus'' Gaedike, 2013 * '' Lasiostega'' Meyrick, 1932 * '' Mesepermenia'' Gaedike, 2004 * '' Notodryas'' Meyrick, 1897 * '' Ochromolopis'' Hübner, 1825 * '' Parochromolopis'' Gaedike, 1977 * '' Paraepermenia'' Gaedike, 1968 * '' Phaulernis'' Meyrick, 1895 * '' Picrodoxa'' Meyrick, 1923 * '' Sinicaepermenia'' Heppner, 1990 * '' Thambotricha'' Meyrick, 1922

References

* Common, I.F.B. (1990). ''Moths of Australia''. Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden. 535 pages. * Dugdale, J.S., Kristensen, N.P., Robinson, G.S. and Scoble, M.J. (1999) 998 "The smaller microlepidoptera grade superfamilies", Ch.13., pp. 217–232 in Kristensen, N.P. (Ed.). ''Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies''. Volume 1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Handbuch der Zoologie. Eine Naturgeschichte der Stämme des Tierreiches / Handbook of Zoology. A Natural History of the phyla of the Animal Kingdom. Band / Volume IV Arthropoda: Insecta Teilband / Part 35: 491 pp. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York. * Gaedike, R. (1977). "Revision der nearktischen und neotropischen Epermeniidae (Lepidoptera)". ''Beiträge zur Entomologia'', 27(2): 301-312. * Gaedike, R. (1979). "Katalog der Epermeniidae der Welt (Lepidoptera)". ''Beiträge zur Entomologia'', 29: 201-209. * Holloway, J.D., Kibby, G and Peggie, D. (1997). ''The families of Malesian moths and butterflies''. Fauna Malesia Handbooks. 455 pp. Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden. * Robinson, G.S., Tuck, K.R., Shaffer, M. and Cook, K. (1994). ''The smaller moths of South-East Asia''. Malaysian Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur.

Sources

* ''Firefly Encyclopedia of Insects and Spiders'', edited by Christopher O'Toole, , 2002

External links

Tufts
at UKMoths
Tree of Life

at British Leafminers
Epermeniidae
at UKMoths

at Insects of Britain and Ireland: the families of Lepidoptera

at Microlepidoptera of Finland - an Overview * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1138937 Moth families