Micropterigidae

Sabatinca incongruella, copyright George W. Gibbs.

Belongs within: Lepidoptera.

The Micropterigidae are a cosmopolitan group of mandibulate moths characterised by the presence of multibranched sensilla on the antennal flagella. Larvae feed on ground-level vegetation such as liverworts or the lower leaves of grasses and other herbaceous plants (Nielsen & Common 1991).

Characters (from Nielsen & Common 1991): Small; head with raised hair-scales; ocelli present; chaetosemata absent; antennae moniliform, submoniliform or filiform, flagellar segments with multibranched sensilla (‘ascoids’); labrum centrally unsclerotised; epipharynx with asymmetrical armature; maxillary palps five-segmented; labial palps short, two- or three-segmented; fore tibial epiphysis present or absent; tibial spurs 0-0-4; fore wing with small jugum, humeral vein vestigial, Sc forked, Sc₂-R₁ cross-vein sometimes present, chorda present, R₁ sometimes forked, cross-veins CuA-CuP and CuP-2A often present; hind wing as fore wing or with Sc₂ fused with R₁, A often simple; abdomen with or without S5 gland; male S8 more or less unsclerotised; ovipositor lobes retractile, non-piercing, segments 8 and 9 without apophyses. Eggs with specialised chorion structure. Larva slug-like, prognathous, with five or six stemmata; antenna three-segmented; without adfrontal ridges and ecdysial lines; salivary orifice not on spinneret; body hexagonal in cross-section; chaetotaxy reduced, with hair-like to claviform setae; thoracic legs three- or four-segmented, with apical claw; nonmuscular prolegs devoid of crochets often on first eight abdominal segments; some species with plastron. Pupa with pointed mandibles, used for opening the cocoon, and free appendages.

<==Micropterigidae [Micropterigina, Micropterigoidea, Micropterygidae, Zeugloptera]
    |  i. s.: Neomicropteryx RD77
    |         Parasabatinca K-P91
    |           |--P. aftimacrai Whalley 1978 P92
    |           `--P. caldasae GE05
    |--Epimartyria WRM02
    |    |--E. auricrinella WRM02
    |    `--E. pardella P27
    `--+--Palaeomicra chalcophanes WRM02
       |--Micropterix WRM02 [incl. Eriocephala RD77]
       |    |--M. algeriella (Ragonot 1889) [=Eriocephala (Micropteryx) algeriella] R89
       |    |--M. ammanella RD77
       |    |--M. aruncella P27
       |    |--M. callunae A99
       |    |--M. calthella WRM02
       |    |--‘Eriocephala’ mansuetella R89
       |    `--M. pervetus Cockerell 1919 GE05, P92 [=Sabatinca perveta P92]
       `--Sabatinca WRM02
            |--S. aurella P27
            |--S. calliplaca NC91
            |--S. chrysargyra P27
            |--S. ianthina P27
            |--S. incongruella P27
            |--S. porphyrodes NC91
            |--S. proavitella Rebel 1935 [=Micropteryx proavitella] P92
            |--S. sterops NC91
            `--S. zonodoxa WRM02

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A99] Ax, P. 1999. Das System der Metazoa II. Ein Lehrbuch der phylogenetischen Systematik. Gustav Fisher Verlag: Stuttgart (translated: 2000. Multicellular Animals: The phylogenetic system of the Metazoa vol. 2. Springer).

[GE05] Grimaldi, D., & M. S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press: New York.

[K-P91] Kukalová-Peck, J. 1991. Fossil history and the evolution of hexapod structures. In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 1 pp. 141–179. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[NC91] Nielsen, E. S., & I. F. B. Common. 1991. Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 2 pp. 817–915. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[P27] Philpott, A. 1927. The maxillae in the Lepidoptera. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 57: 721–746.

[P92] Poinar, G. O., Jr. 1992. Life in Amber. Stanford University Press: Stanford.

[R89] Ragonot, E.-L. 1889. Descriptions qui suivent de diverses espèces nouvelles de microlépidoptères de France et d'Algérie. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France, 6^e série 9: cv–cvii.

[RD77] Richards, O. W., & R. G. Davies. 1977. Imms' General Textbook of Entomology 10^th ed. vol. 2. Classification and Biology. Chapman and Hall: London.

[WRM02] Wiegmann, B. M., J. C. Regier & C. Mitter. 2002. Combined molecular and morphological evidence on the phylogeny of the earliest lepidopteran lineages. Zoologica Scripta 31 (1): 67–81.

Last updated: 25 April 2022.