| Alucitoidea | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Twenty-plume moth (Alucita hexadactyla:Alucitidae) Commanster,Belgian HighArdennes | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Clade: | Apoditrysia |
| Superfamily: | Alucitoidea |
| Diversity | |
| 1-2 families, c.160 species | |
Aluctoidea is thesuperfamily ofmany-plumed and false plume moths. These smallmoths are most easily recognized by theirwings. These each consist of many (typically more than 3) narrow strips of membrane around the majorveins, 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.[1]
They contain twofamilies at most:[2]
Sometimes, only one family is accepted, Tineodidae being merged into Alucitidae with the Alucitoidea thus becomingmonotypic. Most of the roughly 160 describedspecies in the superfamily belong to the many-plumed moths; these include a few rather widespreadgenera. 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.[3]
Even though they are "micromoths", the Aluctoidea are not especially primitiveLepidoptera; the sizablecarpenter moths (Cossidae) as well as thebutterflies are not particularly distant relatives. The closest living relatives of the Aluctoidea, however, seem to be theplume 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, thetaxonomic treatment of the many-plumed moths among the Ditrysia is disputed, mostly because of their unclear relationship to thefruitworm moths (Copromorphoidea).[4]
In the arrangement used here, the Copromorphoidea are consideredobtectomeran Ditrysia, significantly more advanced than the Aluctoidea (which certainly belong to thebasal lineages ofApoditrysia). 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 thefringe-tufted moths, 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 Alucitidaecaterpillars andchrysalises to those of Copromorphoidea. But this may simply beconvergent evolution orsymplesiomorphies, considering that the Copromorphoidea otherwise appear to possess the characteristicsynapomorphies of the Obtectomera, which are absent in Aluctoidea.[3]
