Aluctoidea is the

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

of many-plumed and false plume moths. These small

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 ...

s are most easily recognized by their

wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expre ...

. These each consist of many (typically more than 3) narrow strips of membrane around the major

veins Veins are blood vessels in humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are the pulmonary and umbilical veins, both of which carry oxygenated ...

, instead of a continuous sheet of membrane between the veins. In living moths in the wild, this is often hard to see however. When they are at rest, the "plumes" partly overlap, appearing as solid wings. But even then, they can be recognized by the wings having a marked lengthwise pattern and uneven edge. They contain two families at most: * Alucitidae – many-plumed moths * Tineodidae – false plume moths Sometimes, only one family is accepted, Tineodidae being merged into Alucitidae with the Alucitoidea thus becoming

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

. Most of the roughly 160 described

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

in the superfamily belong to the many-plumed moths; these include a few rather widespread

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

. The false plume moths consist of numerous small and well-distinct lineages; none of their genera have managed to become as successful as the Alucitidae. Minet (1991)

Systematics and taxonomy

Even though they are " micromoths", the Aluctoidea are not especially primitive

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order of insects that includes butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 families and 46 superfamilies, 10 percent of the total described speci ...

; the sizable carpenter moths (Cossidae) as well as the

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises ...

are not particularly distant relatives. The closest living relatives of the Aluctoidea, however, seem to be the plume moths (Pterophoroidea), which like the many-plumed moths have wings consisting each of several narrow straps (though less strikingly so than in the Aluctoidea). However, the taxonomic treatment of the many-plumed moths among the Ditrysia is disputed, mostly because of their unclear relationship to the

fruitworm moth Carposinoidea, the "fruitworm moths", is a superfamily of insects in the lepidopteran order. The superfamily is also known as Copromorphoidea, which is a junior synonym. These moths are small to medium-sized (10–50 mm. in wingspan) and ar ...

s (Copromorphoidea).Minet (1991), O'Toole (2002) In the arrangement used here, the Copromorphoidea are considered

obtectomera The Obtectomera is a clade of macro-moths and butterflies, comprising over 100,000 species in at least 12 superfamilies. Taxonomy The Obtectomera includes the following 12 superfamilies: * Whalleyanoidea Minet, 1991 * Thyridoidea Herrich-Sc ...

n Ditrysia, significantly more advanced than the Aluctoidea (which certainly belong to the basal lineages of

Apoditrysia The Ditrysia are a natural group or clade of insects in the lepidopteran order containing both butterflies and moths. They are so named because the female has two distinct sexual openings: one for mating, and the other for laying eggs (in co ...

). Some authors disagree and instead assume the Copromorphoidea to be closer relatives of the Alucitidae than even the Tineodidae and Pterophoroidea. This splits the many-plumed moths into two lineages, the Alucitidae (as well as the

fringe-tufted moth Epermeniidae or the fringe-tufted moths is a family of insects in the lepidopteran order with about 14 genera. Previously they have been divided in two subfamilies Epermeniinae and Ochromolopinae (e.g. Common, 1990: 321) but this is no longer ...

s, Epermeniidae) being included in an expanded Copromorphoidea, and the Tineodidae affiliated with the plume moth instead. The subfamily Alucitoidea is thus abandoned in this approach. The rationale for doing so is the marked similarity of Alucitidae

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sy ...

s and

chrysalis A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in thei ...

es to those of Copromorphoidea. But this may simply be

convergent evolution Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last com ...

or symplesiomorphies, considering that the Copromorphoidea otherwise appear to possess the characteristic

synapomorph In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to ha ...

ies of the Obtectomera, which are absent in Aluctoidea.

Footnotes

References

* (1991): Tentative reconstruction of the ditrysian phylogeny (Lepidoptera: Glossata). ''Entomologica Scandinavica'' 22(1): 69–95. (HTML abstract) * (2002): ''Firefly Encyclopedia of Insects and Spiders''. Firefly Books. 1-55297-612-2 * (2003)
Alucitoidea
Version of 2003-JAN-01. Retrieved 2011-SEP-24. {{Taxonbar, from=Q14404449 Lepidoptera superfamilies pt:Tineodidae