Overview

The family is restricted to Asia, New Guinea and Australia. Most species occur in Australia, where there are 10 named species in 8 named genera.

Description

Small; head smooth-scaled; antennae filiform from two-thirds length of fore wing to longer than fore wing; proboscis well developed; maxillary palps small, 4-segmented; labial palps moderately long, porrect; spurs 0-2-4, rarely 0-0-2; legs long and slender, hind tibiae usually smooth; fore wing narrow, narrow triangular or deeply cleft, without wing-locking microtrichia, chorda absent and M vestigial in cell, R with branches separate or stalked, sometimes one branch missing, CuP absent, 1A + 2A with small fork or vestigial; hind wing sometimes deeply cleft, with 1-3 frenular bristles, Sc sometimes fused with Rs for a short distance, CuP absent, one or more A veins sometimes absent; abdomen long and slender, T3-6 or rarely T2-7 with narrow anterior band of spines. Larva with ventral prolegs fairly long, slender, crochets uniordinal in mesal penellipse; L1 and L2 approximate on abdominal segments 1-9, on 1 pinaculum; between joined leaves or burrowing in fruits and seeds. Pupa with large pilifers, without cremaster but with terminal hooked setae.

Distribution

Tineodes adactylalis , with ocelli and long labial palps, occurs widely, but the biology is unknown. Larvae of Palaeodes samealis from the north-east feed between joined leaves of Jasminum volubile , and those of Euthrausta oxyprora between leaves of Glochidion ferdinandi . Cenoloba obliteralis has a deep terminal cleft in each wing; the larvae tunnel in the developing cotyledons of the large seeds of the mangrove Avicennia marina . The early stages of Oxychirota paradoxa , which has almost linear wings, are not known. Tanycnema anomala , from N.S.W. and Qld superficially resembles an agdistine pterophorid.