__NOTOC__ The Alucitidae or many-plumed mothsToL (2003) are 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 ...

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 ...

s with unusually modified

wings A wing is a type of fin that produces both lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-drag ratio, which compares the bene ...

. Both fore- and hind-wings consist of about six rigid spines, from which radiate flexible bristles creating a structure similar to a bird's

feather Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and an exa ...

. This is a small family, with about a global total of 210

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

described to date (though it is likely that some undescribed species remain to be discovered). They are found mostly in

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 ...

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

(but not tropical) regions.

Systematics and taxonomy

The

taxonomy image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...

of this family is somewhat disputed. Here, they are united in

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

Alucitoidea Aluctoidea is the superfamily of many-plumed and false plume moths. These small moths are most easily recognized by their wings. These each consist of many (typically more than 3) narrow strips of membrane around the major veins, instead of a co ...

with the

Tineodidae __NOTOC__ The Tineodidae or false plume moths are a family (biology), family of moths with in some cases unusually modified insect wing, wings: Like in some related moths, the wings of several Tineodidae are decomposed into several rigid spines. T ...

, a diverse group of numerous small genera with about 20 species all together. However, the two supposed Alucitoidea families may be

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...

with regard to each other, and Tineodidae better included in Alucitidae. In any case, the similar-looking

plume moth The Pterophoridae or plume moths are a family of Lepidoptera with unusually modified wings, giving them the shape of a narrow winged airplane. Though they belong to the Apoditrysia like the larger moths and the butterflies, unlike these they are ...

s (Pterophoroidea) are widely held to be very close, if not the closest living relatives of the Alucitoidea.Minet (1991) Earlier, many authors assumed that the fruitworm moths (Copromorphoidea) were also very closely related to the Alucitidae (and the fringe-tufted moths, Epermeniidae) – according to some, closer in fact than the Pterophoroidea and even the Tineodidae. In this Alucitoidea do not exist; Alucitidae and Tineodidae are assigned to different (but still most closely related) superfamilies. In the treatment here, the Copromorphoidea are presumed to be the most advanced of these lineages of small but fairly "

modern Modern may refer to: History *Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Philosophy ...

" moths, while the Alucitoidea and Pterophoroidea are more primitive.Wikispecies (2010)

Genera

The genera presently placed here, sorted alphabetically, are: * '' Alinguata'' * '' Alucita'' * '' Hebdomactis'' * '' Hexeretmis'' * '' Microschismus'' * '' Paelia'' * '' Prymnotomis'' * ''

Pterotopteryx ''Pterotopteryx'' is a genus of moths in the family Alucitidae. The genus was described by Hans-Joachim Hannemann in 1959. Species *''Pterotopteryx colchica'' Zagulajev, 1992 *''Pterotopteryx dodecadactyla'' Hübner, 1813 *''Pterotopteryx korean ...

'' * ''

Triscaedecia ''Triscaedecia'' is a genus of moths in the family Alucitidae, found in the Malay and Polynesian regions., 2003: World Catalogue of Insects Volume 4, Pterophoroidea & Alucitoidea (Lepidoptera). ''Triscaedecia'' is distinguished from all other g ...

Footnotes

Bibliography

* . Version of 2010-AUG-10. * * (2003)
Alucitoidea
Version of 2003-JAN-01. Retrieved 2011-SEP-24.

External links

CSIRO
High resolution images of two species.

Family description. {{Authority control