General overview
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The Choreutidae comprise small species (forewing length 2-11 mm) that
are active during day-time and are often found in larger groups on
flowers. The ground color of their wings is mostly brown or grey, but
most species have also many metallic scales that produce bright blue or
iridenscent patterns on the wings. These metallic marks, stripes and
spots have earned them their English name "Metalmark moths". Many genera
have a peculiar wing posture, holding their forewings slightly spread
and slightly erect (hence their German name "Spreizflügelfalter").
Species of e. g. the genus Anthophila in addition gather up the surface
of their forewings, which gives the wings a wrinkled appearance. The
special posture of the wings is often called a "resting position", but
the animals do not only fold their wings in this way when they rest, but
actually retain this peculiar wing posture when they run across leaves
and flowers in quick, irregular movements (reminiscent of cockroaches).
Thus these species show their wing undersides most of the time, which
may also explain why many Choreutidae do not have plain gray wing
undersides like most "micro-moths", but have bright metallic patterns on
the undersides as well. The well over 350 species are mainly
distributed in the world tropics, but ca. 70 species are also known from
the Palearctic region and 10 species are recorded in Germany.
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Morphology
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No information has been entered yet.
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Biology
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The
species of the family utilize a large number of food plants, but there
is a clear focus on the genus Ficus and related wild fig plants. The
eggs are flat and cup-shaped. The larvae live under loose self-spun silk
webs on the surface of the leaves of the foodplant, but a few species
with different larval lifestyle exist (e.g. genus Millieria is a
leaf-miner). Interestingly, the larvae of many species make a
"flight-hole" in the leaf, that enables them to escape to the opposite
side of the leaf if their web is attacked. The pupa is usually encased
in a strong double-walled silk cocoon. The pupa can freely move the
posterior segments (segment 3-7 in males and 3-6 in females) and this
helps the pupa to partially leave the cocoon shortly before eclosion of
the imago.
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Systematics
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There are no characteristic features that are unique to the family.
Therefore the systematic status of the Choreutidae has been discussed
controversially in the past. Due to the similarity (especially of the
wing shape) of many Choreutidae species with tortricid moths, the
Choreutidae were long regarded as closely related to the Tortricidae. On the other hand, the Choreutidae are similar to the Glyphipterigidae,
especially in terms of wing patterns and colors. Both families have the
head scales flat on the body, giving the head a smooth appearance, and
both families have ocelli and very similar wing venation. In addition,
both families comprise dayflying species and have metallic markings on
the wings. The proboscis is well developed in most species of both
families, but has scales at the base in Choreutidae and is naked in
Glyphipterigidae. Other characters, especially of the immature stages,
also differ between the two families and therefore they are no longer
regarded as close relatives. Further characters that are usually used
for systematics are variable within the Choreutidae- indeed it has been
suggested that the Choreutidae actually comprise two or more separate
families. The analysis of Heppner and Duckworth (1981) places the Choreutidae close to the Sesiidae and Brachodidae. Currently, the Choreutidae are best viewed as a separate family with unclear relationships to other families (incertae sedis).
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