Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Pygmy Leafmining Moths (Nepticuloidea)

Superfamily Nepticuloidea - Pygmy Leafmining Moths

Ectoedemia hypericella - Fomoria hypericella

Seacrest scrub leaf miner Ectoedemia on Quercus hemisphaerica maybe D4767 2023 2

Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)

Superfamily Nepticuloidea (Pygmy Leafmining Moths)

Explanation of Names

From the type genus Nepticula, Latin meaning "granddaughter." (1)

Identification

See Bob Patterson's comment about "eyecaps" on photo 360727.

Remarks

These are tiny moths whose larvae are leaf and stem miners. Specialization on diverse flowering plants has led this group to become the most species-rich of the primitive Lepidoptera (2)

Internet References

Nepticulidae and Opostegidae of the World

Works Cited

1.	An accentuated list of the British Lepidoptera, with hints on the derivation of the names. Anonymous. 1858. The Entomological Societies of Oxford and Cambridge.

2.	Moths of Western North America Powell and Opler. 2009. UC Press.

Contributed by Jeff Hollenbeck on 26 March, 2007 - 4:19pm
Additional contributions by Vox Sciurorum, John Schneider, Randy Hardy, Kyhl Austin
Last updated 27 May, 2019 - 9:18pm

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