Butterfly and Moth Taxonomy | Butterflies and Moths of North …
Butterfly and Moth Taxonomy. The list below contains all of the North American families of butterflies and moths currently represented in the BAMONA database. To date, the list includes all butterfly families but not all moth families.
Butterflies and Moths of North America
Members of this family are commonly called "hummingbird," "sphinx," or "hawk" moths, and some can be mistaken for hummingbirds. Most are medium to large moths, with heavy bodies; wingspread reaches 5 inches or more in some species.
Family Geometridae (Geometer Moths, Looper Moths)
The Geometer Moths are the second largest family of moths in North America. This family includes many serious agricultural and forest pests. These moths are small to medium in size, with slender bodies and broad wings.
Butterflies and Moths of North America
The Apatelodidae are a small family of moths of the Superfamily Bombycoidea. Changes in moth taxonomy indicate that the Apatelodid moths may be a subfamily instead of a family. Adults are medium sized, wingspan 3.2-4.2 cm.
Family Saturniidae (Wild Silk Moths) - Butterflies and Moths
These species are medium to very large in size, and this family includes the largest moths in North America. Adults have a wingspan of 3 to 15 centimeters, relatively small heads, and densely hairy bodies.
Family Tortricidae (Tortricid Moths) - Butterflies and Moths
Description of Tortricidae. The Tortricidae family is a large and relatively homogeneous family in the Superfamily Tortricoidea, with three subfamilies that have at times been considered separate families: Chlidanotinae, Tortricinae, and Olethreutinae.
Family Tineidae (Clothes Moths) - Butterflies and Moths
These are small to medium-sized moths with wingspans of 0.7-3.6 cm. Adults of most species are dark in color, and most have very rough head scales. Some are important pest species, and these are typically pale, with or without markings.
Family Erebidae (Erebid Moths) - Butterflies and Moths
Description of Erebidae. The Erebidae are members of the superfamily Noctuoidea. This family was formerly a subfamily of Noctuidae but it now includes several other former subfamilies of Noctuidae.
Family Noctuidae (Owlet Moths, Miller Moths) - Butterflies and …
Worldwide in distribution, this family is the largest in the Lepidoptera and has approximately 20,000 species. About 2,900 of these are found in North America, and there is wide variation in appearance and behavior. Most moths are gray to brown in …
Family Limacodidae (Limacodids, Slug Caterpillar Moths)
The Limacodids are members of the Superfamily Zygaenoidea, and there are about fifty North American species in this family. They are medium to medium-small moths with stout, often hairy bodies, and broad, rounded wings. Most are brown or …