Opostegidae or "white eyecap moths" is a family of

insects Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...

in the order Lepidoptera that is characterised by particularly large eyecaps over the

compound eyes A compound eye is a visual organ found in arthropods such as insects and crustaceans. It may consist of thousands of ommatidia, which are tiny independent photoreception units that consist of a cornea, lens, and photoreceptor cells which distin ...

(see also

Nepticulidae Nepticulidae is a family of very small moths with a worldwide distribution. They are characterised by eyecaps over the eyes (see also Opostegidae, Bucculatricidae, Lyonetiidae). These pigmy moths or midget moths, as they are commonly known, incl ...

, Bucculatricidae, Lyonetiidae). Opostegidae are most diverse in the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

tropics (83 described species, representing 42% of the world total). These small, whitish moths are probably miners in plant stems. Examples of host plants used in Europe are ''

Lycopus ''Lycopus'' (water horehound, gypsywort, or bugleweed) is a genus in the family Lamiaceae. They are all herbaceous plants native to Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America. The species are most often found in wetlands, damp meadows, and strea ...

'', ''

Mentha ''Mentha'' (also known as mint, from Greek , Linear B ''mi-ta'') is a genus of plants in the family Lamiaceae (mint family). The exact distinction between species is unclear; it is estimated that 13 to 24 species exist. Hybridization occurs nat ...

'' and '' Rumex'', but their biology is poorly known. The subfamily Oposteginae comprises 87 described species and Opostegoidinae includes 15 described species.Davis D.R. (1989). Generic revision of the Opostegidae, with a synoptic catalog of the world's species (Lepidoptera: Nepticuloidea). ''Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology'', 478: 1–9
online here
/ref>Davis, D.R. (1999). The Monotrysian Heteroneura. Ch. 6, pp. 65–90 in Kristensen, N.P. (Ed.). ''Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies''. Volume 1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Handbuch der Zoologie. Eine Naturgeschichte der Stämme des Tierreiches / Handbook of Zoology. A Natural History of the phyla of the Animal Kingdom. Band / Volume IV Arthropoda: Insecta Teilband / Part 35: 491 pp. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York

References

External links

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Detailed description and figures including wing venation. Moth families Taxa named by Edward Meyrick {{Opostegidae-stub