Schreckensteinioidea is a
superfamily in the
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, ...
order 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 ...
containing a single
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 ...
, Schreckensteiniidae, or "bristle-legged moths", because of the stout spines on the hindlegs. The superfamily and family were both described by
Thomas Bainbrigge Fletcher in 1929. The relationships of this family within the group
apoditrysia are currently uncertain. One of the species, the blackberry skeletoniser (''
Schreckensteinia festaliella''), is widespread and common across Europe and has been introduced as a
biological control to
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
, whilst three species of ''Corsocasis'' occur in South East Asia (Dugdale et al., 1999).
References
*Dugdale, J. S., Kristensen, N. P., Robinson, G. S. and Scoble, M. J. (1999). 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.
*''Firefly Encyclopedia of Insects and Spiders'', edited by Christopher O'Toole, , 2002
External links
Swedish MothsUKMoths
*
Moth families
{{ditrysia-stub