Family of moths
| Choreutidae
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| Nettle-tap moth
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain:
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Eukaryota
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| Kingdom:
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Animalia
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| Phylum:
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Arthropoda
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| Class:
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Insecta
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| Order:
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Lepidoptera
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| Infraorder:
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Heteroneura
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| Clade:
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Eulepidoptera
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| Clade:
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Ditrysia
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| Clade:
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Apoditrysia
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| Superfamily:
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Choreutoidea
Stainton, 1858
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| Family:
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Choreutidae
Stainton, 1858
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| Subfamilies and genera
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Brenthiinae
Choreutinae
- Alasea Rota, 2008
- Anthophila Haworth [1811]
- Asterivora Dugdale, 1979
- Caloreas Heppner, 1977
- Choreutis Hübner [1825]
- =Choreutidia Sauber, 1902
- =Hemerophila Fernald, 1900
- =Allononyma Busck, 1904
- =Macropia Costa, 1836
- Hemerophila Hübner [1817]
- ?Melanoxena Dognin, 1910
- Niveas Rota, 2013
- Ornarantia Rota & Wahlberg, 2012
- Peotyle Diakonoff, 1978
- Prochoreutis Heppner, 1981
- Rhobonda Walker, 1863
- Saptha Walker, 1864
- =Badera Walker, 1866
- =Chordates Snellen, 1877
- Tebenna Billberg, 1820
- Trichocirca Meyrick, 1920
- Telosphrantis Meyrick, 1932
- Tortyra Walker, 1863
- =Choregia Zeller, 1877
- =Walsinghamia Riley, 1889
- Zodia Heppner, 1879
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| Diversity
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| 402 species
|
Choreutidae, or metalmark moths, are a family of insects in the lepidopteran order whose relationships have been long disputed. It was placed previously in the superfamily Yponomeutoidea in family Glyphipterigidae and in superfamily Sesioidea. It is now considered to represent its own superfamily (Minet, 1986). The relationship of the family to the other lineages in the group "Apoditrysia" need a new assessment, especially with new molecular data.
Distribution
The moths occur worldwide, with 19 genera in three subfamilies defined by the structural characteristics of the immature stages (larvae and pupae), rather than the characters of the adults (Heppner and Duckworth, 1981; Rota, 2005).
Behaviour
These small moths often bear metallic scales[1] and are mostly day-flying (some also come to lights), with a jerky, pivoting behaviour, and may fluff up their wings at an extreme angle. Some tropical exemplars such as the genus Saptha are quite spectacular, with bright green metallic bands.[2] The members of the genus Brenthia, usually placed in their own subfamily Brenthiinae, have eyespots on the wings and have been shown to mimic jumping spiders (Rota and Wagner, 2006).
Larval hostplants
Most species skeletonize leaves often among silken webbing.[3] The foodplants of many Choreutinae occurring in the temperate region and some tropical species are known [4] being dominated by Asteraceae, Betulaceae, Boraginaceae, Dipterocarpaceae, Fabaceae, Labiatae, Moraceae (mainly Ficus), Rosaceae, Sapindaceae and Urticaceae. The European nettle-tap moth (Anthophila fabriciana Linnaeus, 1767), [nb 1]is a familiar sight pirouetting around "stinging nettles" Urtica and nearby flowers while Choreutis pariana [5] skeletonizes apple leaves. The last genus has 85 species worldwide one of which, C. tigroides, is a pest of "jackfruit" (Artocarpus) (Dugdale et al., 1999).
