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MICROLEPIDOPTERA

(MICRO-MOTHS)

by

Dr. Frank Smith

Frank Smith has produced a series of six photographic guides to the Microlepidoptera of Cornwall. Microlepidoptera is a conventional but unscientific name applied to 36 out of a total of 59 families of moths which occur in the British Isles. The size of many of the species has made them difficult to study and sometimes impossible to identify accurately without the aid of a microscope. The adults of species in several of the families, for example, Nepticulidae, Coleophoridae and Elachistidae, closely resemble each other but their larvae show very specific, diagnostic, differences. The photographs represent 29 of the families concerned. The number preceding each name follows “A Checklist of Lepidoptera recorded from the British Isles” (J. D. Bradley, 2000). This enables cross-referencing in “The Moths & Butterflies of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly” (F. H N. Smith, 1997) for more detail about the species illustrated, all but a few of which are recorded in Cornwall. Although nomenclature and position in the systematic list may have changed since the earlier checklist (Bradley & Fletcher, 1986) used in the book, and also more recently (Bradley, 1998), the number allotted to each species remains unaltered. The size of the subject, as it appears in the photograph, follows the name. The figure in brackets after the family name is the number of species in the family which occur in the British Isles. The derivations of the family names are taken from “The Scientific names of the British Lepidoptera, their history and meaning”, (A. M. Emmet: Harley Books, 1991). F. H. N. Smith, 2008.

The photographic guides to the Microlepidoptera are available below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Federation for Biological Recorders