Family NEPTICULIDAE

Nepticulidae

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Family NEPTICULIDAE

Compiler and date details

1 July 2007 - R.J.B. Hoare, Landcare Research, Auckland, New Zealand

Stigmellindae.

Introduction

The Nepticulidae constitute a large worldwide family of moths with leaf-mining or stem-mining larvae. The family includes the smallest moths in the world, some with a wingspan less than 3 mm. Each species tends to be restricted to a single plant genus, sometimes to a single species of host-plant. In moist climates, the adults are rarely encountered, but in the drier parts of Australia, they come frequently to light. As a result of their small size and the relative difficulty of rearing them and preparing them for the collection, nepticulids are relatively poorly known compared to many moth families, and most species outside the Northern Hemisphere are undescribed. Australia has a very rich fauna of Nepticulidae, with at least 280 species represented in ANIC. This number probably represents less than half of the true diversity. Only 22 species have been described, in two subfamilies, the Pectinivalvinae (currently unknown outside Australia, and containing the endemic genera Pectinivalva and Roscidotoga) and the worldwide Nepticulinae. Species of Pectinivalva for which the life history is known feed on Myrtaceae, especially Eucalyptus; species of the rainforest genus Roscidotoga are on Elaeocarpaceae and Cunoniaceae.

The first Australian Nepticulidae were described by Meyrick (1906). Scoble (1983) described Pectinivalva and its new subfamily Pectinivalvinae. The described Australian species were then reviewed by Hoare et al. (1997). Hoare later erected the genus Roscidotoga with 3 species (Hoare 2000a), and described 3 further species in Ectoedemia (Fomoria) (Hoare 2000b).{}{}