Micropterigidae

Micropterigidae; Temporal range: Middle Jurassic–Present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
	Micropterix aureoviridella (Höfner, 1898)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Suborder:	Zeugloptera; Chapman, 1917
Superfamily:	Micropterigoidea; Herrich-Schäffer, 1855
Family:	Micropterigidae; Herrich-Schäffer, 1855
Genera
	See text
Diversity
	About 180 species

Micropterigoidea is the superfamily of "mandibulate archaic moths", all placed in the single family Micropterigidae, containing currently about twenty living genera. They are considered the most primitive extant lineage of lepidoptera (Kristensen, 1999), and the sole superfamily in the suborder Zeugloptera. The name comes from the Greek for mikros, little and pterux, a wing.^[2] Unique among the Lepidoptera, these moths have chewing mouthparts rather than a proboscis, and are seen feeding, often in large aggregations, on the pollen of the flowers of many herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees.^[3]^[4] The fossil record of the group goes back to the middle-late Jurassic with the earliest known species being Auliepterix from the Karabastau Formation in Kazakhstan.

Genera

Micropterix Hübner, 1825
Epimartyria Walsingham, 1898
Issikiomartyria Hashimoto, 2006
Kurokopteryx Hashimoto, 2006
Neomicropteryx Issiki, 1931
Palaeomicroides Issiki, 1931
Paramartyria Issiki, 1931
Vietomartyria Mey, 1997
Sabatinca Walker, 1863
Agrionympha Meyrick, 1921
Hypomartyria Kristensen & Nielsen 1982
Squamicornia Kristensen & Nielsen, 1982
Austromartyria Gibbs, 2010
Tasmantrix Gibbs, 2010
Zealandopterix Gibbs, 2010
Aureopterix Gibbs, 2010
Nannopterix Gibbs, 2010

Extinct genera

† Archmosaicus Zhang, Deng et Ren, 2020 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
† Auliepterix Kozlov, 1989 Karabastau Formation, Kazakhstan, Callovian/Oxfordian Hotont Formation, Mongolia, Aptian
† Baltimartyria Skalski, 1995 Baltic amber, Eocene
† Electrocrania Kuznetsov 1941 Baltic amber, Eocene
† Moleropterix Engel & Kinzelbach, 2008 Fur Formation, Denmark, Ypresian
† Palaeosabatinca Kozlov, 1989 Zaza Formation, Russia, Aptian
† Parasabatinca Whalley, 1978 Lebanese amber, Barremian, Crato Formation, Brazil, Aptian
† Terncladus Han, Zhang and Ren, 2024 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cretaceous^[5]

References

^ van Nieukerken et al (2011) Order Lepidoptera Linnaeus, 1758. In: Zhang, Z.-Q. (Ed.) Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness, Zootaxa 3148, 212-221
^ Smith, Frank. "Microlepidoptera (Micro-Moths)". Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Federation for Biological Recorders. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
^ Sterling, Phil; Parsons, Mark; Lewington, Richard (2012). Field Guide to the Micromoths of Great Britain and Ireland. Milton-on-Stour: British Wildlife Publishing. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-9564902-1-6.
^ Heath, John (1983). Micropterigidae. In The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland. Volume 1. Colchester: Harley Books. p. 151. ISBN 0-946589-15-1.
^ Han, Ning; Zhang, Weiting; Fang, Hui; Wang, Jiajia; Shih, Chungkun; Ren, Dong (1 August 2024). "Geometric morphometric analyses of Micropterigidae lineages (Lepidoptera) with two new species from mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar". Cretaceous Research. 160: 105897. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2024.105897. ISSN 0195-6671.

Kristensen, N. P., and E. S. Nielsen. 1979. A new subfamily of micropterigid moths from South America. A contribution to the morphology and phylogeny of the Micropterigidae, with a generic catalogue of the family (Lepidoptera: Zeugloptera). Steenstrupia 5(7):69–147.
Kristensen, N. P. (1999). The non-Glossatan Moths. Ch. 4, pp. 41–49 in Kristensen, N. P. (Ed.). Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies. Volume 1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Handbuch der Zoologie. Eine Naturgeschichte der Stämme des Tierreiches / Handbook of Zoology. A Natural History of the phyla of the Animal Kingdom. Band / Volume IV Arthropoda: Insecta Teilband / Part 35: 491 pp. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York.