Opostegidae (Family)

Overview

Opostegidae or "white eyecap moths" is a family of insects in the Lepidoptera order that is characterised by particularly large eyecaps over the compound eyes (see also Nepticulidae, Bucculatricidae, Lyonetiidae). Opostegidae are most diverse in the New World tropics (83 described species, representing 42% of the world total).

These small, whitish moths are probably miners in plant stems. Examples of host plants used in Europe are Lycopus, Mentha and Rumex,^1] but their biology is poorly known. The subfamily comprises 87 described species and Opostegoidinae includes 15 described species.[2]^[3]

ecies=&Country=&sort=Family">http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/research-curation/projects/hostplants/list.dsml?searchPageURL=browse.dsml&Family=Opostegidae&Genus=&Species=&Country=&sort=Family. Retrieved 26 October 2010.

^ Davis D.R. (1989). Generic revision of the Opostegidae, with a synoptic catalog of the world's species (Lepidoptera: Nepticuloidea). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 478: 1?97

^ Davis, D.R. (1999). The Monotrysian Heteroneura. Ch. 6, pp. 65?90 in Kristensen, N.P. (Ed.). Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies. Volume 1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Handbuch der Zoologie. Eine Naturgeschichte der St?mme 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

External links

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"Opostegidae". Tree of Life Web Project. 1 January 2003. http://tolweb.org/Opostegidae. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
Higgott, Jeff. "Opostegidae". Jeff Higgott's UK Lepidoptera. http://jeffhiggott.topcities.com/lepidoptera/systematic_list/Opostegidae/opostegidae1.html. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
"Family Opostegidae". Microleps.org. http://www.microleps.org/Guide/Opostegidae/index.html. Retrieved 26 October 2010.

Taxonomy

The Family Opostegidae is a member of the Superfamily Nepticuloidea. Here is the complete "parentage" of Opostegidae:

Domain: Eukaryota Whittaker & Margulis,1978 - eukaryotes
- Kingdom: Animalia C. Linnaeus, 1758 - animals
  - Subkingdom: Bilateria (Hatschek, 1888) Cavalier-Smith, 1983 - bilaterians
    - Branch: Protostomia Grobben, 1908 - protostomes
      - Infrakingdom: Ecdysozoa A.M.A. Aguinaldo et al., 1997 ex T. Cavalier-Smith, 1998 - ecdysozoans
        Superphylum: Panarthropoda Cuvier
        Phylum: Arthropoda Latreille, 1829 - Arthropods
        Subphylum: Mandibulata Snodgrass, 1938
        Infraphylum: Atelocerata Heymons, 1901
        Superclass: Panhexapoda
        Class: Insecta C. Linnaeus, 1758 - Insects
        Subclass: Dicondylia
        Infraclass: Pterygota - Winged Insects
        Cohort: Myoglossata
        Superorder: Amphiesmenoptera
        Order: Lepidoptera - Butterflies and Moths
        Suborder: Glossata
        Infraorder: Heteroneura - a genus of Longhorned Beetles (Cerambycidae)
        Superfamily: Nepticuloidea
        Family: Opostegidae - white eyecap moths

Genera

Opostega

Opostegoides

Pseudopostega

Pseudospostege

References

^ "HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants". Natural History Museum. 2007. http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/research-curation/projects/hostplants/list.dsml?searchPageURL=browse.dsml&Family=Opostegidae&Genus=&Species=&Country=&sort=Family. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
^ Davis D.R. (1989). Generic revision of the Opostegidae, with a synoptic catalog of the world's species (Lepidoptera: Nepticuloidea). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 478: 1?97
^ Davis, D.R. (1999). The Monotrysian Heteroneura. Ch. 6, pp. 65?90 in Kristensen, N.P. (Ed.). Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies. Volume 1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Handbuch der Zoologie. Eine Naturgeschichte der St?mme 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

Opostegidae