Eventually, this section of the site will include detailed analysis of the entire moth fauna of Block Island. For now, it includes mainly brief summaries of components of the fauna, namely families. Click on families from the list at the bottom of this page to find my summaries.
All major groups of macrolepidoptera are well-described, with only a small portion of species globally awaiting description. This permits straightforward comparisons of species diversity of the major groups globally, in North America, and on Block Island. More than 73,500 described species of macromoths occur worldwide; of these, more than 5,400 (7.3%) are found in the continental US and Canada. 540 species, or about 10% of the North American fauna, have been documented on Block Island.
Nepticuloidea: Nepticulidae, Opostegidae*
Adeloidea: Heliozelidae, Prodoxidae
Tischerioidea: Tischeriidae
Tineoidea: Tineidae, Psychidae
Gracillarioidea: Gracillariidae, Bucculatricidae
Yponomeutoidea: Yponomeutidae, Plutellidae*, Glyphipterigidae, Argyresthiidae, Lyonetiidae*, Bedelliidae
Gelechioidea: Autostichidae, Lecithoceridae*, Oecophoridae, Depressariidae, Cosmopterigidae, Gelechiidae, Elachistidae, Coleophoridae, Batrachedridae, Scythrididae, Blastobasidae, Momphidae
Pterophoroidea: Pterophoridae
Carposinoidea: Carposinidae
Schreckensteinioidea: Schreckensteiniidae
Choreutoidea: Choreutidae
Tortricoidea: Tortricidae
Zygaenoidea: Zygaenidae, Limacodidae
Pyraloidea: Pyralidae, Crambidae
MACROLEPIDOPTERA
Drepanoidea: Drepanidae
Lasiocampoidea: Lasiocampidae
Bombycoidea: Saturniidae, Sphingidae
Geometroidea: Geometridae
Noctuoidea: Notodontidae, Erebidae, Euteliidae, Nolidae, Noctuidae