Welcome to Pterophoroidea

The Pterophoridae is a distinctive family of small moths found on all continents apart from Antarctica. A comprehensive global catalogue was produced in 2003 and listed 1136 species in the family, along with three species in the closely related Macropiratidae. These two families form the Pterophoroidea.

This scratchpad has been created initially to manage information related to a revision of the Australian Pterophoroidea.  Carrying out this revision will include review and interpretation of associated information from other regions on species found in Australia and examination of the characteristics of related species not currently known from Australia.  As a result this site will grow to include variable information on Pterophoroidea from other regions.

Please contact Donald Hobern (dhobern@gmail.com) if you wish to contribute to development of this scratchpad and to expanding its coverage to all Pterophoroidea.

The Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia (1996) recognised one species of Macropiratidae and 41 of Pterophoridae as occurring in Australia.  A number of species have subsequently been added.  As of March 2015, the Australian Faunal Directory includes 49 named species of Pterophoridae and one species of Macropiratidae.  This list is not fully up-to-date with current opinion regarding the synonymy of several of these species names, and collections and citizen science images include individuals of a number of additional species, some apparently undescribed.