Lepidoptera
order of insects comprising butterflies, skippers, and moths. Lepidopterans (members of this order) go through a four-stage life cycle of egg–larva/caterpillar–pupa/chrysalis–imago/adult. Adults have two pairs of membranous wings covered with scales, and mouth parts adapted for sucking.
The order comprises more than 160,000 species, second only to the Coleoptera (the beetles). The name is from Greek "scaly-wing" (lepido-pteron).
See also metamorphosis (biology) and difference between a butterfly and a moth.
Families of Lepidoptera
There are thought to be about 130 families in this order, but opinions frequently change among lepidoperists as to which these are. The treatment here is that adopted for the Natural History Museum database . Generally, this uses the families included in the series of reviews published as Kristensen (1999), but for the superfamily Gelechoidea, it retains the system of Nye & Fletcher (1991) rather than the contentious treatment of Hodges in Kristensen. Also, the Riodinidae are retained as a family in anticipation of a publication by Lamas et al which will reinstate this as a full family. (In Kristensen they are treated as a subfamily of the Lycaenidae.) The list also shows where other authors in the fairly recent past have treated groups as belonging in other families. The actual number of families listed here is 126.
Lepidoptera is divided into several suborders, the largest being Ditrysia. Several other classifications of Lepidoptera families are commonly used. Butterflies families are collectively known as Rhopalocera (club-horned), while moth families are collectively known as Heterocera (varied-horned). Lepidoperists also group families by size of species members: microlepidoptera for small species, and Acanthopteroctetidae Davis, 1978||
|-
|Acrolepiidae Heinemann, 1870||Plutellidae or Yponomeutidae
|-
|Acrolophidae||Tineidae
|-
|Adelidae Bruand, 1851||
|-
|Agathiphagidae Kristensen, 1967||
|-
|Agonoxenidae Meyrick, 1926||Elastichidae or Coleophoridae
|-
|Aididae||Megalopygidae
|-
|Alucitidae Leach, 1815||
|-
|Anomoeotidae||
|-
|Anomosetidae||
|-
|Anthelidae||
|-
|Arctiidae Leach, 1815||
|-
|Arrhenophanidae||
|-
|Axiidae Rebel, 1919||Noctuidae
|-
|Batrachedridae Heinemann & Wocke, 1876||Coleophoridae or Mompidae or Cosmopterigidae
|-
|Bedelliidae Meyrick, 1880||Lyonetiidae
|-
|Blastobasidae Meyrick, 1894||Coleophoridae
|-
|Bombycidae Latreille, 1802||
|-
|Brachodidae Heppner, 1979||Glyphipterigidae
|-
|Brahmaeidae Swinhoe, 1892||
|-
|Bucculatricidae Wallengren, 1881||
|-
|Callidulidae||
|-
|Carposinidae Walsigham, 1897||
|-
|Carthaeidae||
|-
|Castniidae||
|-
|Cecidosidae||Incurvariidae
|-
|Choreutidae Stainton, 1854||Glyphipterigidae
|-
|Coleophoridae Hubner, 1825||
|-
|Copromorphidae||
|-
|Cosmopterigidae Heinemann & Wocke, 1876||
|-
|Cossidae Leach, 1815||
|-
|Crambidae Latreille, 1810||Pyralidae
|-
|Crinopterygidae Spuler, 1898||
|-
|Cyclotornidae||
|-
|Dalceridae||
|-
|Doidae||Arctiidae
|-
|Douglasiidae Heinemann & Wocke, 1876||
|-
|Drepanidae Boisduval, 1828||
|-
|Dudgeoneidae||
|-
|Elachistidae Bruand, 1851||
|-
|Endromidae Boisduval, 1828||
|-
|Epermeniidae Spuler, 1910||
|-
|Epicopeiidae||
|-
|Epipyropidae Dyar, 1903||
|-
|Eriocottidae Spuler, 1898||Incurvariidae
|-
|Eriocraniidae Tutt, 1899||
|-
|Ethmiidae Busck, 1909||Elachistidae
|-
|Eupterotidae||
|-
|Galacticidae||Plutellidae
|-
|Gelechiidae Stainton, 1854||
|-
|Geometridae Leach, 1815||
|-
|Glyphipterigidae Stainton, 1854||
|-
|Gracillariidae Stainton, 1854||
|-
|Hedylidae||Geometridae
|-
|Heliodinidae Heinemann & Wocke, 1876||
|-
|Heliozelidae Heineman & Wocke, 1877||
|-
|Hepialidae Stephens, 1829||
|-
|Hesperiidae Latreille, 1809||
|-
|Heterobathmiidae||Micropterigidae
|-
|Heterogynidae Herrich Schaffer, 1846||
|-
|Himantopteridae||
|-
|Holcopogonidae Gozmany, 1967||Autostichidae
|-
|Hyblaeidae||
|-
|Immidae Heppner, 1977||Glyphipterigidae
|-
|Incurvariidae Spuler, 1898||
|-
|Lacturidae||Yponomeutidae
|-
|Lasiocampidae Harris, 1841||
|-
|Lecithoceridae Le Marchand, 1947||Gelechiidae
|-
|Lemoniidae Dyar, 1896||
|-
|Limacodidae Duponchet, 1845||
|-
|Lophocoronidae Common, 1973||
|-
|Lycaenidae Leach, 1815||
|-
|Lymantriidae Hampson, 1893||
|-
|Lyonetiidae Stainton, 1854||
|-
|Lypusidae||Tineidae or Psychidae or Yponomeutidae
|-
|Megalopygidae||
|-
|Metachandidae Meyrick, 1911||Oecophoridae or Gelechiidae
|-
|Micropterigidae Herrich Schaffer, 1855||
|-
|Mimallonidae||
|-
|Mirinidae||Bombycidae
|-
|Mnesarchaeidae||
|-
|Momphidae Herrich Schaffer, 1857||Coleophoridae
|-
|Neopseustidae||
|-
|Neotheoridae Kristensen, 1978.||
|-
|Nepticulidae Stainton, 1854||
|-
|Noctuidae Latreille, 1809||
|-
|Nolidae Hampson, 1894||Noctuidae
|-
|Notodontidae Stephens, 1829||
|-
|Nymphalidae Swainson, 1827||
|-
|Oecophoridae Bruand, 1851||
|-
|Oenosandridae||Notodontidae (Thaumatopoeidae)
|-
|Opostegidae Meyrick, 1893||
|-
|Palaeosetidae||
|-
|Palaephatidae||Tineidae
|-
|Pantheidae||Noctuidae
|-
|Papilionidae Latreille, 1802||
|-
|Pieridae Duponchel, 1835||
|-
|Plutellidae Guenee, 1845||Yponomeutidae
|-
|Prodoxidae Riley, 1881||
|-
|Prototheoridae||
|-
|Psychidae Boisduval, 1828||
|-
|Pterolonchidae Meyrick, 1918||Coleophoridae
|-
|Pterophoridae Zeller, 1841||
|-
|Pyralidae Latreille, 1802||
|-
|Riodinidae||Lycaenidae
|-
|Roeslerstammiidae Bruand, 1850||
|-
|Saturniidae Boisduval, 1837||
|-
|Schreckensteiniidae Fletcher, 1929||
|-
|Scythrididae Rebel, 1901||
|-
|Sematuridae||
|-
|Sesiidae Boisduval, 1828||
|-
|Simaethistidae||Pyralidae
|-
|Somabrachyidae Hampson, 1920||Megalopygidae
|-
|Sphingidae Latreille, 1802||
|-
|Symmocidae Gozmany, 1957||Autostichidae
|-
|Thyrididae Herrich Schaffer, 1846||
|-
|Tineidae Latreille, 1810||
|-
|Tineodidae Meyrick, 1885||
|-
|Tischeriidae Spuler, 1898||
|-
|Tortricidae Latreille, 1802||
|-
|Uraniidae||
|-
|Urodidae||
|-
|Whalleyanidae||Thyrididae
|-
|Yponomeutidae Stephens, 1829||
|-
|Ypsolophidae Guenee, 1845||Yponomeutidae
|-
|Zygaenidae Latreille, 1809||
|}
List of relegated families
The following groups have been ranked as families in the fairly recent past, and the family names are still likely to be met with in books and on the internet. This list shows where the supposed families are now classified.
