OPOSTEGIDAE
A cosmopolitan family of small, white, plant-mining moths, though only 196 species have been described globally. Ninety-one species occur in the New World according to the latest review of the family (Davis & Jonis 2007), the majority of these newly described and with only a single species documented as occurring in Paraguay. They are amongst the smallest known Lepidoptera with wingspans varying from 4-25mm. The family name is derived from the Greek meaning "covered eyes" referring to the enlarged antennal scapes which completely cover the eyes at rest.
Characteristics
Scales usually appressed to the head. External ocelli absent. Proboscis reduced and food canal poorly developed. Adult wing venation greatly reduced with all veins unbranched. Frenulum lost in both sexes. Antennal flagomeres with three sets of ascoid sensillae and a pedunculate, often elliptical, cucullar lobe bearing a well-developed pectinifer on the valva of the male genitalia. Single spinose seta on larval mandible. Females have a short, almost truncate ovipositor. Results from light-trapping studies in Costa Rica suggest that the family is much more common in canopy habitats than at ground level. (Scoble 1995, Davis & Jonis 2007).
Life Cycles
Females possess a primitive, monostrysian reproductive system. Larval biologies of only two New World species are known, both mining the cambium layer in woody plant stems. Mines are usually linear and may reach 7m in length. The spinose setae of the mandibles are used to sweep particles into the mouth. Pupation apparently occurs outside the mine, in known species in the upper soil layer. A total of six host plant families have been recorded for the 11 global species for which life history data is known. Host plants for the Paraguayan species are not known. Adults are diurnal or nocturnal and readily attracted to light. They have been observed to burrow their way into crevices for concealment, the antennal scapes that cover the eyes apparently an adaptation for this behaviour. At rest the appendages are held tightly to the body and they be mistaken for bird droppings. (Scoble 1995, Davis & Jonis 2007).
Classification
The following species have been documented as occurring in Paraguay:
Pseudopostega saltatrix (Walsingham) - 2 males collected Hotel Tirol, Departamento Itapúa 22-26 April 1986 USNM 32823.
Superfamily Nepticuloidea: Family Opostegidae
References:
Davis DR, Stonis JR 2007 - A Revision of the New World Plant-mining Moths of the Family Opostegidae (Lepidoptera: Nepticuloidea) - Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 625.
Scoble MJ 1995 - The Lepidoptera: Form, Function and Diversity - Oxford University Press, Oxford.
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