Micropterigidae
Micropterigoidea is the superfamily of "mandibulate archaic moths", all placed in the single family Micropterigidae, containing currently about twenty living genera. They are considered the most primitive extant lineage of lepidoptera, and the sole superfamily in the suborder Zeugloptera. The name comes from the Greek for mikros, little and pterux, a wing. Unique among the Lepidoptera, these moths have chewing mouthparts rather than a proboscis, and are seen feeding, often in large aggregations, on the pollen of the flowers of many herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees. The fossil record of the group goes back to the middle-late Jurassic with the earliest known species being Auliepterix from the Karabastau Formation in Kazakhstan.
Micropterigid larvae possess a uniquely specialised trunk cuticle, in which the exo- and endocuticle are separated by fluid-filled chambers arranged in a honeycomb pattern, each chamber corresponding to an individual epidermal cell.
Genera
Micropterix Hübner, 1825Epimartyria Walsingham, 1898Issikiomartyria Hashimoto, 2006Kurokopteryx Hashimoto, 2006Neomicropteryx Issiki, 1931Palaeomicroides Issiki, 1931Paramartyria Issiki, 1931Vietomartyria Mey, 1997Sabatinca Walker, 1863Agrionympha Meyrick, 1921Hypomartyria Kristensen & Nielsen 1982Squamicornia Kristensen & Nielsen, 1982Austromartyria Gibbs, 2010Tasmantrix Gibbs, 2010Zealandopterix Gibbs, 2010Aureopterix Gibbs, 2010Nannopterix Gibbs, 2010Extinct genera
- † Archmosaicus Zhang, Deng et Ren, 2020 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
- † Auliepterix Kozlov, 1989 Karabastau Formation, Kazakhstan, Callovian/Oxfordian Hotont Formation, Mongolia, Aptian
- † Baltimartyria Skalski, 1995 Baltic amber, Eocene
- † Electrocrania Kuznetsov 1941 Baltic amber, Eocene
- † Moleropterix Engel & Kinzelbach, 2008 Fur Formation, Denmark, Ypresian
- † Palaeosabatinca Kozlov, 1989 Zaza Formation, Russia, Aptian
- † Parasabatinca Whalley, 1978 Lebanese amber, Barremian, Crato Formation, Brazil, Aptian
- † Terncladus Han, Zhang and Ren, 2024 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cretaceous