Pterophoridae
Sign in to saveAlso known as plume moth
The Pterophoridae or plume moths are a family of Lepidoptera with unusually modified wings, giving them the shape of a narrow winged airplane. Though they belong to the Apoditrysia like the larger moths and the butterflies, unlike these they are tiny and were formerly included among the assemblage called "microlepidoptera".
Species
plume moths
FAMILY
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumArthropoda
- ClassInsecta
- OrderLepidoptera
- FamilyPterophoridae
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 1,994
- With media
- 825
- Family
- Pterophoridae
- Collections
- YPM, MSU, UMNH, DMNS, UAM, UCSB
- Recorded in
- United States, Canada
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Parent taxon
- Pterophoroidea
- Image
- Emmelina monodactyla MHNT.jpg
Show 7 more facts
- Commons category
- Pterophoridae
- taxon rank
- family
- taxon name
- Pterophoridae
- topic's main category
- Category:Pterophoridae
- taxon common name
- fjærmøll
- described by source
- Granat Encyclopedic Dictionary
- temporal range start
- Oligocene
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
6 sectionsContents
- Description and ecology
- Evolution
- Taxonomy
- Footnotes
- References
- External links
The Pterophoridae or plume moths are a family of Lepidoptera with unusually modified wings, giving them the shape of a narrow winged airplane. Though they belong to the Apoditrysia like the larger moths and the butterflies, unlike these they are tiny and were formerly included among the assemblage called "microlepidoptera".
==Description and ecology== left|thumb|Pupa of [[Platyptilia tetradactyla (Pterophorinae: Platyptiliini)]] The forewings of plume moths usually consist of two curved spars with more or less bedraggled bristles trailing behind. This resembles the closely related Alucitidae (many-plumed moths) at first glance, but the latter have a greater number of symmetrical plumes. The hindwings are similarly constructed, but have three spars. This unorthodox structure does not prevent flight. A few genera have normal lepidopteran wings.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Pterophoridae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.