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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:
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