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

Family Opostegidae

Gooseberry Barkminer Moth - Hodges#0122 (Pseudopostega quadristrigella) - Pseudopostega quadristrigella Unid Leafminer Gmf2 - Pseudopostega Unid Leafminer Gmf6 - Pseudopostega Unid Leafminer Gmf7 - Pseudopostega Gooseberry Barkminer Moth - Pseudopostega quadristrigella Pseudopostega Pseudopostega quadristrigella Which Pseudopostega, please? - Pseudopostega
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)
Family Opostegidae
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Author: OPOSTEGIDAE Meyrick, 1893
Explanation of Names
derived from the Greek opos (eye) plus stege (roof)
Numbers
only 11 species in America north of Mexico, 3 in the west (1)
Identification
Adults - larger than nepticulids, with enormous eye caps, completely obscuring the eyes from a frontal view. Wings relatively broad with apices often bent upward, white with sparse dark markings (1)

Larvae - extremely slender, legless, flattened, with callosites on second and third sthoratic venter, adapted for sub cutaneous mining (1). The head structure of Opostegidae, roughly triangular in shape, resembles no other moth larva (2)
Food
primarily cambium miners in woody stems and fruit (1)
Remarks
adult Opostegidae have been observed to burrow their way into small crevices for concealment. Certain aspects of their morphology, particularly the enlarged antennal scape (or eyecap) that can completely cover and thus protect the eye and the generally depressed body are apparent adaptations for this behavior (2)
Works Cited
1.Moths of Western North America
Powell and Opler. 2009. UC Press.
2.Generic revision of the Opostegidae, with a synoptic catalog of the World's Species (Lepidoptera: Nepticuloidea)
Donald R. Davis. 1989. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 478.
Contributed by Jeff Hollenbeck on 26 March, 2007 - 4:21pm
Additional contributions by Randy Hardy
Last updated 22 May, 2012 - 10:27pm

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