Carposinoidea

Carposinoidea
Carposinidae specimen
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Clade:	Neolepidoptera
Infraorder:	Heteroneura
Clade:	Eulepidoptera
Clade:	Ditrysia
Clade:	Apoditrysia
Superfamily:	Carposinoidea Walsingham, 1897
Families
Copromorphidae Carposinidae
Diversity
About 318 species
Synonyms[1]
Copromorphoidea Hampson, 1918

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.^[1] These moths are small to medium-sized (10–50 mm. in wingspan) and are broad-winged bearing some resemblance to the superfamilies Tortricoidea and Immoidea. The antennae are often "pectinate" especially in males, and many species of these well camouflaged moths bear raised tufts of scales on the wings and a specialised fringe of scales at the base of the hindwing sometimes in females only; there are a number of other structural characteristics (Common, 1990; Dugdale et al., 1999) . The position of this superfamily is not certain, but it has been placed in the natural group of "Apoditrysia"[1] "Obtectomera" (Minet, 1991), rather than with the superfamilies Alucitoidea or Epermenioidea within which it has sometimes previously been placed, on the grounds that shared larval and pupal characteristics of these groups have probably evolved independently. It has been suggested that the division into two families should be abandoned (e.g. Holloway et al., 2001).

Distribution[edit]

Carposinoidea occur worldwide except the northwest Palaearctic region (Dugdale et al., 1999).

Behaviour[edit]

Adults are night-flying and attracted to lights. Caterpillars live between joined leaves or fruits or bore within stems. The larvae pupate with the silken gallery or descend to the ground and make a cocoon covered in detritus (Dugdale et al., 1999).

Larval hostplants[edit]

The hostplants include the gymnosperm genus Podocarpus and quite a wide range of dicotyledon families [2]^{[permanent dead link]} [3]^{[permanent dead link]}. As the moths can infest fruit some are considered pest species such as the "Peach Fruit Moth"[4].

References[edit]

• Dugdale, J.S., Kristensen, N.P., Robinson, G.S. and Scoble, M.J. (1999). The smaller microlepidoptera grade superfamilies, Ch.13., pp. 217–232 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.
• Holloway, J.D., Kibby, G and Peggie, D. (1997). The families of Malesian moths and butterflies. Fauna Malesia Handbooks. 455 pp. Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden.
• Minet, J. (1991). Tentative reconstruction of the ditrysian phylogeny (Lepidoptera: Glossata). Entomologica Scandinavica, 22: 69–95.

External links[edit]

Wikispecies has information related to Carposinoidea.

• Tree of Life
• Copromorphidae Natural History Museum Hosts database^{[permanent dead link]}.
• Carposinidae Natural History Museum Hosts database^{[permanent dead link]}
• Natural History Museum Lepindex Available names