Lepidopteran diversity

There are over 180,000 species of Lepidoptera that are described. Over 10% of species that are described living organisms are described are Lepidoptera. This is a list of the **diversity of the Lepidoptera** showing the number of genera and species described for each superfamily. It also shows the family.

|**Superfamily**|**Family**|**Genera**|**Species**|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Micropterigiodea|Micropterigidae|6|182|
|Agathiphagoidea|Agathiphagidae|1|2|
|Heterobathmioidea|Heterobathmiidae|1|9|
|Eriocranioidea|Eriocraniidae|6|25|
|Acanthopteroctedoidea|Acanthopteroctetidae|2|5|
|Lophocoronoidea|Lophocoronidae|1|6|
|Neopseustoidea|Neopseustidae|3|10|
|Mnesarchaeoidea|Mnesarchaeidae|1|14|
|Hepialoidea||68|630|
||Anomosetidae|1|1|
||Hepialidae|61|606|
||Neotheoridae|1|1|
||Palaeosetidae|4|7|
||Prototheoridae|1|15|
|Nepticuloidea||29|1,076|
||Nepticulidae|22|862|
||Opostegidae|7|214|
|Adeloidea||72|598|
||Adelidae|||
||Cecidosidae|||
||Heliozelidae|||
||Incurvariidae|||
||Prodoxidae|12|80|
|Palaephatoidea|Palaephatidae|7|60|
|Tischerioidea|Tischeriidae|5|110|
|Simaethistoidea|Simaethistidae|2|4|
|Tineoidea||406|4,352|
||Acrolophidae||300|
||Arrhenophanidae|5|26|
||Eriocottidae|||
||Lypusidae|||
||Psychidae|||
||Tineidae|320|3,000|
|Gracillarioidea||90|2,315|
||Bucculatricidae|||
||Douglasiidae|||
||Gracillariidae|75|2,000|
||Roeslerstammiidae|||
|Yponomeutoidea||83|1,578|
||Acrolepiidae|||
||Bedelliidae|||
||Glyphipterigidae||384|
||Heliodinidae|||
||Lyonetiidae|||
||Plutellidae||100|
||Yponomeutidae||600|
||Ypsolophidae|||
|Gelechioidea||1,390|15,966|
||Agonoxenidae|||
||Batrachedridae|||
||Blastobasidae|||
||Coleophoridae|43|1,418|
||Cosmopterigidae|106|1,628|
||Elachistidae|165|3,270|
||Ethmiidae|||
||Gelechiidae|507|4,530|
||Holcopogonidae|||
||Lecithoceridae|||
||Metachandidae|||
||Momphidae|||
||Oecophoridae|||
||Pterolonchidae|||
||Scythrididae|||
||Symmocidae|||
|Galacticoidea|Galacticidae|3|17|
|Zygaenoidea||98|2,700|
||Aididae|||
||Anomoeotidae|||
||Cyclotornidae|1|5|
||Dalceridae|||
||Epipyropidae|||
||Heterogynidae|||
||Himantopteridae|||
||Lacturidae|||
||Limacodidae||1,100|
||Megalopygidae|||
||Somabrachyidae|||
||Zygaenidae|||
|Cossoidea||114|676|
||Cossidae|113|670|
||Dudgeoneidae|1||
|Sesioidea||149|1,360|
||Brachodidae||150|
||Castniidae|||
||Sesiidae|149|1,362|
|Choreutoidea|Choreutidae|12|405|
|Tortricoidea|Tortricidae|755|6,338|
|Urodoidea||4|62|
||Urodidae|3|60|
||Ustyurtiidae|1|2|
|Schreckensteinioidea|Schreckensteiniidae|4|12|
|Epermenioidea|Epermeniidae|5|83|
|Alucitoidea||15|158|
||Alucitidae||130|
||Tineodidae|||
|Pterophoroidea|Pterophoridae|73|986|
|Whalleyanoidea|Whalleyanidae|1|2|
|Immoidea|Immidae|6|246|
|Copromorphoidea||29|318|
||Carposinidae|||
||Copromorphidae|||
|Hyblaeoidea|Hyblaeidae|2|18|
|Pyraloidea||2,092|15,576|
||Crambidae|1,015|10,094|
||Pyralidae|1,077|5,900|
|Thyridoidea|Thyrididae|12|1,220|
|Mimallonoidea|Mimallonidae|41|291|
|Lasiocampoidea||158|1,575|
||Anthelidae|||
||Lasiocampidae|150|1,500|
|Bombycoidea||466|3,425|
||Bombycidae|||
||Brahmaeidae|||
||Carthaeidae|||
||Endromidae|||
||Eupterotidae|||
||Lemoniidae|||
||Mirinidae|||
||Saturniidae|165|1,480|
||Sphingidae|200|1,200|
|Cimelioidea|Cimeliidae|2|6|
|Calliduloidea|Callidulidae|8|60|
|Hedyloidea|Hedylidae|1|40|
|Hesperioidea|Hesperiidae|550|3,500|
|Papilionoidea||1,400|14,000|
||Lycaenidae|566|4,698|
||Nymphalidae|633|5,698|
||Papilionidae|26|605|
||Pieridae|74|1,051|
||Riodinidae|140|1,250|
|Drepanoidea||129|675|
||Drepanidae|123|665|
|Geometroidea||2,107|23,748|
||Epicopeiidae|9|20|
||Geometridae|2,002|23,002|
||Sematuridae|6|40|
||Uraniidae|90|686|
|Noctuoidea||7,250|70,000|
||Arctiidae||11,000|
||Doidae|||
||Erebidae|1,760|24,569|
||Euteliidae|29|520|
||Lymantriidae|360|2,500|
||Noctuidae|1,089|11,772|
||Nolidae|186|1,738|
||Notodontidae|704|3,800|
||Oenosandridae|4|8|
||Pantheidae|||

## References

- Kristensen, N.P. (Ed.). 1999. 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.