''Cosmopterix'' is a large genus of

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

in the family

Cosmopterigidae The Cosmopterigidae are a family of insects (cosmet moths) in the order Lepidoptera. These are small moths with narrow wings whose tiny larvae feed internally on the leaves, seeds and stems of their host plants. About 1500 species are described. ...

(cosmet moths).

Description

Adult

''Cosmopterix'' species are very small to small moths with a forewing length of 2.9-6.5 mm. Head smooth-scaled, rather long and narrow caused by the large and bent scales on the vertex; frons distinctly lighter than vertex, from vertex to neck tufts often a median and/or two lateral white lines; antenna three-quarters to four-fifths of the length of forewing, often slightly serrate distally, and generally with a white, often partly interrupted, anterior line and several white sections in the apical part; labial palpus cylindrical, porrect, apical segment strongly angled upwards and often reaching well above the head. Thorax with or without a median white line, tegulae often lined white inwardly. Forewing narrowly lanceolate with long and very narrowly protruding apex and usually with a very characteristic yellow or orange fascia beyond the middle, this fascia bordered by tubercular metallic fasciae or spots; basal area with a metallic fascia or spots or with three to six longitudinal lines of different length, cilia concolorous around apex, paler towards dorsum. Hindwing almost linear, less than half the width of forewing and acutely pointed, from pale yellow to dark grey, without markings, cilia concolorous without ciliary lines. The forewing can generally be divided into three parts: The basal area from base to middle of wing, followed by the broad transverse fascia and beyond this the apical area. The basal area generally with a series of longitudinal lines, often very narrow or a single and oblique, sometimes interrupted, fascia. The lines are mentioned from costa to dorsum as the costal, the subcostal, the medial, the subdorsal and the dorsal line. The transverse fascia is strikingly coloured from pale yellow to orange and in combination with the narrow wings it makes the species of Cosmopterix and Pebobs easy recognisable. The transverse fascia is always more or less edged on both sides by fasciae or spots. These fascia or spots consist of very strikingly silver or golden metallic coloured tubercular scales. Some species partly or completely lack the yellowish colour of the transverse fascia. However, the presence of the ‘fascia’ can be observed by the lining tubercular fasciae or spots. The transverse fascia can be edged by a combination of inner and outer fasciae and/or by an inner and outer (sub)costal and (sub)dorsal spots. Sometimes the (sub)costal and (sub)dorsal spots are situated inside the transverse fascia. The apical area is generally concolorous with the basal area, but occasionally the colouration differs. In the centre or on the dorsal side of the apical area is a longitudinal apical line, running from the transverse fascia to apex of forewing. This line is often interrupted or only present as one or more dots or streaks. Markings of the costal and dorsal cilia of the forewing are as follows: a white streak from outer costal spot in almost all of the species, a white streak or spot connected to the apical line is very common, and occasionally there is a white streak from outer dorsal spot. For identification of the species by the external features, mainly the markings of the head, thorax and forewing are of diagnostic importance. Wing venation with 12 veins in forewing and 7 veins in hindwing. Forewing with Sc and R1-R4 to costa; R5 directing towards the narrow tip; M1-CuA2 to termen; CuP very weak and not reaching termen; 1A+2A with basal fork, to dorsum. Hindwing Sc and Rs to costa; M1-CuA2 to termen; veins often not fully developed due to the narrow shape of the hindwing.The genera Cosmopterix Hübner and Pebobs Hodges in the New World with special attention to the Neotropical fauna (Lepidoptera: Cosmopterigidae)
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Biology

The larvae are

leaf miner A leaf miner is any one of numerous species of insects in which the larval stage lives in, and eats, the leaf tissue of plants. The vast majority of leaf-mining insects are moths (Lepidoptera), sawflies (Symphyta, the mother clade of wasps), ...

s on a large diversity of usually herbaceous plants. They have been found oligophagous or even monophagous on the following plant families:

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

Cannabaceae Cannabaceae is a small family (biology), family of flowering plants, known as the hemp family. As now Circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribed, the family includes about 170 species grouped in about 11 genera, including ''Cannabis'' (hemp), ''H ...

Convolvulaceae Convolvulaceae (), commonly called the bindweeds or morning glories, is a family of about 60 genera and more than 1,650 species. These species are primarily herbaceous vines, but also include trees, shrubs and herbs. The tubers of several spec ...

Cyperaceae The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' w ...

Poaceae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

Urticaceae The Urticaceae are a family, the nettle family, of flowering plants. The family name comes from the genus ''Urtica''. The Urticaceae include a number of well-known and useful plants, including nettles in the genus ''Urtica'', ramie (''Boehmeri ...

. The mines are blotch mines and in several species the larvae more or less frequently change mines. Larvae of other species stay in a single mine during their complete development and leave the mine only prior to pupation or pupate inside the mine. In several species the larva constructs a silken tunnel inside the mine in which it hides when not feeding or when disturbed. In colder climates species usually have one generation where hibernation takes place in the larval stage in a cocoon in or outside the mine. Pupation takes place in spring. In warmer climates the species have more than one, sometimes overlapping, generations. For '' Cosmopterix gomezpompai'' a twirling behaviour has been observed by the adult. In this case the moth runs on the upper side of a leaf and simultaneously makes very fast circling movements. As soon as it comes across something unusual on the surface, like a spot, the circling slows down and is concentrated on that spot. It appears that it is feeding mostly on the dark brown spots (most likely a part of a bird dropping) on the leaf. Probably the moth is looking for nutrition. The twirling behaviour, without the possible feeding, has also been observed with '' Cosmopterix pulchrimella'' in Greece. This behaviour is described for '' Cosmopterix victor'' and also for a species of the family

Gelechiidae The Gelechiidae are a family of moths commonly referred to as twirler moths or gelechiid moths. They are the namesake family of the huge and little-studied superfamily Gelechioidea, and the family's taxonomy has been subject to considerable dis ...

Selected species

*'' Cosmopterix abnormalis'' Walsingham, 1897 *''

Cosmopterix aculeata ''Cosmopterix aculeata'' is a moth of the family Cosmopterigidae. It is known from India (Assam), China and Australia. It is multivoltine, with adults recorded from March to November. References aculeata Aculeata is a subclade of Hy ...

'' Meyrick, 1909 *'' Cosmopterix acutivalva'' Kuroko, 1987 *'' Cosmopterix adrastea'' Koster, 2010 *'' Cosmopterix albicaudis'' Meyrick, 1932 *'' Cosmopterix amalthea'' Koster, 2010 *'' Cosmopterix anadoxa'' Meyrick, 1909 *'' Cosmopterix ananke'' Koster, 2010 *'' Cosmopterix ancalodes'' Meyrick, 1909 *'' Cosmopterix ancistraea'' Meyrick, 1913 *'' Cosmopterix angoonae'' Kuroko, 1987 *'' Cosmopterix antemidora'' Meyrick, 1909 *'' Cosmopterix antichorda'' Meyrick, 1909 *'' Cosmopterix aphranassa'' Meyrick, 1926 *'' Cosmopterix argentifera'' Koster, 2010 *'' Cosmopterix argentitegulella'' Sinev, 1985 *'' Cosmopterix artifica'' Meyrick, 1909 *'' Cosmopterix asiatica'' Stainton, 1859 *'' Cosmopterix asignella'' Sinev, 1988 *'' Cosmopterix astrapias'' Walsingham, 1909 *'' Cosmopterix asymmetrella'' Sinev, 1993 *'' Cosmopterix athesiae'' Huemer & Koster 2006 *''

Cosmopterix attenuatella ''Cosmopterix attenuatella'' is a moth of the family Cosmopterigidae described by Francis Walker in 1864. It is widely distributed in the tropics and subtropics of both the Old and New World, including the United States, Bermuda, the Cayman Isla ...

'' Walker, 1864 *'' Cosmopterix aurella'' Bradley, 1959 *'' Cosmopterix aurotegulae'' Koster, 2010 *'' Cosmopterix bacata'' Hodges, 1962 *'' Cosmopterix bactrophora'' Meyrick, 1908 *'' Cosmopterix baihashanella'' Kuroko & Y.Q. Liu, 2005 *'' Cosmopterix bambusae'' Meyrick, 1917 *''

Cosmopterix basilisca ''Cosmopterix basilisca'' is a moth in the family Cosmopterigidae. It was described by Edward Meyrick Edward Meyrick (25 November 1854, in Ramsbury – 31 March 1938, at Thornhanger, Marlborough) was an English schoolmaster and amateur en ...

Cosmopterix lienigiella ''Cosmopterix lienigiella'' is a moth of the family Cosmopterigidae. It is found from Fennoscandia to Spain, the Alps and Greece and from Ireland to Ukraine. It is also present in eastern Russia and Japan. It is the type species of the genus ''Cos ...

Cosmopterix phyllostachysea ''Cosmopterix phyllostachysea'' is a moth of the family Cosmopterigidae. It is known from China (Jiangxi) and Japan. The length of the forewings is about 6 mm. The larvae have been recorded feeding on Poaceae species in China and on ''Ph ...

Status unknown

*''Cosmopterix phengitella'' (Hübner, 1811), described from Europe in ''Tinea''

Selected former species

*'' Cosmopterix ceriocosma'' Meyrick, 1934 *'' Cosmopterix labathiella'' Viette, 1956 Furthermore, ''"Cosmopterix" cyanosticta'' is not a cosmet moth, but belongs to the

fungus moth Tineidae is a family of moths in the order Lepidoptera described by Pierre André Latreille in 1810. Collectively, they are known as fungus moths or tineid moths. The family contains considerably more than 3,000 species in more than 300 genera. ...

genus ''

Erechthias ''Erechthias'' is a genus of the fungus moth family, Tineidae. Therein, it belongs to the subfamily Erechthiinae, of which it is the type genus. The exact circumscription of this genus is still disputed, but it may encompass more than 150 species ...

''.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q146874