Crinopteryx | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Family: | Crinopterygidae |
Genus: |
Crinopteryx Peyerimhoff, 1871 |
Species: | C. familiella |
Binomial name | |
Crinopteryx familiella Peyerimhoff, 1871 |
Crinopteryx is a monotypic genus of moths and the sole genus of the also monotypic Crinopterygidae family. Its sole species, Crinopteryx familiella is a primitive monotrysian moth endemic to Europe, where it is restricted to the Mediterranean region of France, Italy, the Iberian Peninsula and Sicily. Crinopterygidae is not the only moth family restricted to this region (see also Cimeliidae).
Crinopteryx familiella is a small moth, about 7 mm. in wingspan and its morphological characters are rather unusual for the superfamily Incurvarioidea. For example, the caterpillar bears a case (see also Coleophoridae, feeding on Cistus shrubs (Rosaceae) (Davis, 1999: 83), and especially Cistus salviifolius.
The family is alternatively placed as a subfamily (Crinopteryginae) of the Incurvariidae.