Yponomeutoidea is a superfamily of ermine moths and relatives. There are about 1,800 species of Yponomeutoids worldwide, most of them known to come from temperate regions.[1] This superfamily is one of the earliest groups to evolve external feeding and to colonize herbs in addition to shrubs and trees.[1]
Families
The family composition of Yponomeutoidea has varied over time, with a 2013 study assigning eleven families:[2]
The word Yponomeutoidea comes from the Ancient Greekὑπό (ypo) meaning under and νομός (nomós) meaning food or dwelling, thus "feeding secretly, or burrow".[3]
Firefly Encyclopedia of Insects and Spiders, edited by Christopher O'Toole, ISBN1-55297-612-2, 2002
van Nieukirken 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. Zootaxa3148: 212-221.