Opostegidae

{{Short description|Family of moths}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Opostega salaciella.jpg

| image_caption = Opostega salaciella

| taxon = Opostegidae

| authority = Meyrick, 1893

| diversity_ref = [http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2011/f/zt03148p221.pdf Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness - Lepidoptera]

| diversity = About 7 genera and 214 species by late 2013

| subdivision_ranks = Subfamilies and Genera

| subdivision =

Oposteginae

Opostegoidinae

}}

Opostegidae or "white eyecap moths" is a family of insects in the order Lepidoptera that is characterised by particularly large eyecaps over the compound eyes (see also Nepticulidae, Bucculatricidae, Lyonetiidae). Opostegidae are most diverse in the New World tropics (83 described species, representing 42% of the world total).

These small, whitish moths are probably miners in plant stems. Examples of host plants used in Europe are Lycopus, Mentha and Rumex,{{cite web |url= http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/research-curation/projects/hostplants/list.dsml?searchPageURL=browse.dsml&Family=Opostegidae&Genus=&Species=&Country=&sort=Family |title= HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants |year= 2007 |work= Natural History Museum |access-date=26 October 2010}} but their biology is poorly known. The subfamily Oposteginae comprises 87 described species and Opostegoidinae includes 15 described species.Davis D.R. (1989). Generic revision of the Opostegidae, with a synoptic catalog of the world's species (Lepidoptera: Nepticuloidea). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 478: 1–97 [http://www.sil.si.edu/smithsoniancontributions/Zoology/pdf_hi/SCTZ-0478.pdf online here]Davis, D.R. (1999). The Monotrysian Heteroneura. Ch. 6, pp. 65–90 in Kristensen, N.P. (Ed.). Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies. Volume 1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Handbuch der Zoologie. Eine Naturgeschichte der Stämme des Tierreiches / Handbook of Zoology. A Natural History of the phyla of the Animal Kingdom. Band / Volume IV Arthropoda: Insecta Teilband / Part 35: 491 pp. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York

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