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Family Autostichidae

Taygete gallaegenitella, 1845 - Taygete gallaegenitella Moth #21. Oegoconia novimundi? - Oegoconia novimundi Autostichid? Oegoconia novimundi? - Oegoconia novimundi Taygete attributella? - Taygete attributella Glyphidocera - juniperella or septentrionella ? - Glyphidocera Hodges#1144 - Gerdana caritella Glyphidocera juniperella? - Glyphidocera juniperella
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 Gelechioidea (Twirler Moths and kin)
Family Autostichidae
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Autostichidae Le Marchand, 1947
"Nearly all autostichid subfamilies have at least sometimes been considered, with dubious evidence, as families, or as subordinate to each other or to, for example, Gelechiidae or Oecophoridae, with a spectrum of combinations (see Bucheli, 2009 for an overview)" (1).
Numbers
25 species in 9 genera in our area (2). Six subfamilies are currently recognized (1), five of which occur in our area (2).
Size
wingspan in 10-20 mm range
Identification
"Autostichidae is a family that is hard to characterize as it appears to possess no unique synapomorphies, even though its monophyly is well supported" (1).
Range
represented throughout much of North America
also occurs in several areas of the world
Food
"The larvae are nearly always saprophagous" (1).
Print References
Bucheli, S.R., 2009. Annotated review and discussion of phylogenetically important characters for families and subfamilies of Gelechioidea (Insecta: Lepidoptera). Zootaxa 2261, 1-22.
Internet References
adult image of Oegoconia quadripuncta (Jack Astley, UK Moths)
classification history of genus Oegoconia showing placement in different families (Brian Pitkin et al, Butterflies and Moths of the World)
listing as family Symmocidae under superfamily Gelechioidea (Tree of Life, tolweb.org)
Works Cited
1.Morphology reinforces proposed molecular phylogenetic affinities: a revised classification for Gelechioidea (Lepidoptera)
Heikkilä, M., Mutanen, M., Kekkonen, M. and Kaila, L. 2014. Cladistics 30: 563–589.
2.Annotated taxonomic checklist of the Lepidoptera of North America, North of Mexico
Pohl, G.R., Patterson, B., & Pelham, J.P. 2016. ResearchGate.net.