Diversity description:

Approximately 300 genera and 1000 species, grouped into 10 subfamilies, are are known from all continents except Antarctica (Rhainids, Davis, and Price, 2009).

Geographic Range:

Nearctic, Palearctic, Oriental, Ethiopian, Australian, Oceanic Island

Color:

Chorion opaque white.

Texture:

smooth

Orientation:

flat

Egg mass pattern:

Winged females use their long ovipositor to lay eggs in crevices, usually some distance from the pupation site. Apterous females with functional legs stay on their bag upon mating and insert their telescopic abdomen into the lower opening of the bag to oviposit in their pupal case. In species with vermiform females that remain inside their pupal case, peristaltic contractions of the abdomen allow females to discharge their eggs intermixed with abdominal setae inside the upper section of their pupal case, progressively shrinking in the process (Rhainids et al, in press).

Description of egg morphology:

Egg of Perisceptis carnivora Davis 0.45-0.5 mm in length, maximum diameter ~ 0.35 mm, superficially similar to that described for Brachycyttarus griseus De Joannis (Davis 1990). Micropyle consisting of an irregularly circular central disk ~ 8-13 �m in diameter with 11-13 low, slender ridges radiating outwards; arms occasionally branching, sometimes joining adjacent ridges to form a few closed cells. Each egg (only for Perisceptis carnivora) enclosed within a firmly woven, golden cocoon spun from long, finely barbed setae derived from seventh abdominal segment of female; length of egg cocoon ~ 1.0 mm, width ~ 0.7 mm (Davis, et al 2008).

Number of stemmata:

from 6

Larval head description:

Frontoclypeus extending ca. 0.5 to epicranial notch; ecdysial lines converging at or just dorsad to apex of frontoclypeus. Venter of labrum with 4 pairs of epipharyngeal setae.

Larval body description:

Body usually between 6-50 mm long, with head and thorax well sclerotized and variously pigmented; abdomen usually unicolorous, varying from white to fuscous, or with dark, dorsal plates.

Larval thorax description:

Thoracic legs well developed and directed anteriorly; coxae partially to completely fused at midline; lateral pinacula of T1, bearing 3L setae and spiracle, fused to pronoturn.

Thoracic glands:

absent

Thoracic legs:

present

Pairs of thoracic legs:

from 3

Larval abdomen description:

All prolegs present, moderately short.

Abdominal glands:

absent

Abdominal prolegs:

present

Pairs of abdominal legs:

from 5

Proleg configuration:

normal

Proleg size:

short

Crochets:

uniserial, arranged in penellipse

Crochet arrangement description:

Crochets of A3-6 uniordinal and arranged in a lateral penellipse; crochets of A10 in a uniordinal semi-ellipse.

Anal comb on A10:

absent

Reproductive system:

Ditrysian

Oviscapt (ovipositor):

non-piercing

Female genitalia description:

Highly variable depending upon degree of specialization; segments 8 and 9 + 10 usually long and telescoping, with 2 pairs of apophyses and 1 pair of pseudapophyses (within A10) in more basal genera, to greatly shortened and with only 1-2 pairs of apophyses in most derived, vermiform ?? (Davis 1964). Ostium located on S8 or at caudal margin. Ductus bursae and corpus bursae usually short and membranous; signum absent; ductus seminalis sometimes greatly elongated in most derived genera.

Female corethrogyne:

present

Female pregenital sexual scales:

absent

Female accessory glands:

one pair

Female oviduct opening:

below anus

Female bursa ostium opening:

on venter 8

Female anterior apophyses originating:

originating from T8

Male coremata:

present, absent

Male pregenital sexual scales:

absent

Male genitalia description:

Uncus completely fused, rounded caudally or represented by short, setose lobes. Tegumen well developed, hoodlike. Vinculum U- to Y -shaped; saccus often elongate. Gnathos absent. Juxta sometimes present and fused with partially sclerotized anellus in lower forms. Subscaphium sometimes sclerotized, usually absent. Valvae relatively slender, elongate, typically with a broad, setose pad at base (often referred to as pulvillus, vallum penis, but probably derived from anellus) as well as an acute or spinose process from ventral margin or apex of sacculus. Transtilla usually present. Seven pairs of genital muscles present (Kuznetsov and Stekol'nikov 1977). Aedoeagus elongate, slender, usually without cornuti.

Sternum 5:

without fenestra

Sternum 5 gland:

absent

Adult abdomen description:

Paired sternal apodemes of S2 elongate, straight to curved, continuing more than half way into 2S as sternal rods. A pair of short coremata sometimes present on S8 of males in more primitive genera; S8 usually sclerotized with a pair of prominent apodemes directed anteriorly. Female with dense corethrogyne of long piliform scales encircling A7, often concentrated in clusters.

Male has:

phallotheca and aedeagus (phallus)

Scale tufts:

present

Epiphysis:

present, absent

Adult thorax description:

Male fully winged, female either fully winged, brachypterous, apterous, or vermiform with all body appendages vestigial or lost. Metafurca with furcal apophyses joined as a bridge to secondary arms; Legs with tibial spur pattern highly variable, ranging from 0-2-4 to 0-0-0; epiphysis present or absent. apterous, or vermiform with all body appendages vestigial or lost.

Forelegs:

normal, reduced

Number of tibial spurs foreleg:

from 0

Number of tibial spurs midleg:

from 0 to 2

Number of tibial spurs hindleg:

from 2 to 4

Forewing length from mid-dorsum to apex (mm):

from 4 to 28mm

Wing venation??description:

Forewing with M present in cell; accessory and intercalary cells usually absent; 1A + 2A either with or without basal fork.

Wing venation:

heteroneurous

Forewing cell veins:

forked, unforked

Forewing basal loop:

present, absent

Forewing pterostigma:

absent

Hindwing pterostigma:

absent

Wing coupling:

present, with frenulum

Wing scales:

hollow

Forewing description:

Forewings slender to broad; index 0.3-0.66, forewings normally with 7-9 veins arising from cell; Rs4 terminating on termen. Male retinaculum varying from a broad fold to a more slender coiled flap from underside of costal membrane immediately anterior to and extending under base of Sc.

Hindwing description:

Hindwing index 0.33-0.76; male frenulum a single stout seta; alate female with 3-8 frenular setae.

Counter-tympanum:

absent

Abdomen tympanum:

absent

Thorax tympanum:

absent

Palp tympanum:

absent

Ocelli:

present, absent

Eyes:

smooth

Labial palpus:

porrect

Number of labial palp segments:

from 0 to 3

Labial palpus modification:

Labial palpi often absent, 1-3 segmented in more primitive genera; lateral bristles absent.

Maxillary palpus:

present, absent, minute

Number of maxillary palp segments:

from 0 to 3

Number of chaetosomata:

from 0

Proboscis:

present, absent, reduced

Proboscis texture:

naked

Proboscis description:

Proboscis usually absent, present in a few of the most primitive genera.

Mandibles:

absent

Head vertex scaling:

very rough

Female antennae:

filiform

Male antennae:

bipectinate, filiform

Number of flagellomere scale rows:

from 1

General antennae description:

Antennae 0.3-0.8 the length of forewing; usually vestigial in vermiform female; scape rough, pecten present but often indistinct; flagellum filiform to strongly bipectinate in male, usually filiform in female(when developed) to rarely serrate; vestiture variable, usually with scales scattered over dorsal half, sometimes with one distinct row per segment.

Adult head description:

Vestiture generally rough, consisting usually of moderately long, slender to piliform scales directed mostly forward. Ocelli present in some primitive genera, usually absent. Eyes small to large; interocular index 0.4-2.3; cornea naked. Pilifers and mandibles absent. Maxillary palpi usually absent, rarely rudimentary to 3-segmented (in Kearfottia, Lamyristis).

Apomorphies:

Larval labrum with four pairs of epipharyngeal setae.  Larval pronotum expanded laterally and fused to the lateral pinnaculum to include the spiracle and all 3 prespiracular setae.  Larval abdominal crochets on segments 3-6 arranged in a uniordinal, lateral penellipse

Larval behavior:

diurnal

Larval behavior:

All larvae are case bearers throughout all instars and feed on a broad range of plant hosts, from lichens, grasses, to leaves of evergreen and decidous trees and shrubs; a few have also been reported as insectivorous (Clausen 1940). Structure of larval case highly divergent (Figs. 7.6F-N), from helical (Fig. 7.6 H) to greatly elongated, from less than 6 mm long at maturity to 32.7 cm (Oiketicus aristocosma). Number of instars not well known, at least 4 or more (Jones and Parks 1928; Davis 1964; Kozhanchikov 1956) the male sometimes possessing one more instar than female.

Description of egg life history:

The number of eggs laid by female bagworms in different species varies from less than 50 in Apterona helicoidella Vallot and more than 5,000 in Oiketicus kirbyi Guilding, with overall trends of enhanced fecundity with increasing body size, both within and between species. The fecundity is higher for tropical species than temperate species, and for species with vermiform females than those with winged females (Rhainids et al, in press).

Systematic and taxonomic history:

Determining the monophyly of the family based on adult morphology is difficult due to a broad range of morphological variation. One important synapomorphy for Psychidae, the presence of fused metathoracic furcal bridges, is shared with the sister group Arrhenophanidae. The female psychid has evolved a greater array of morphological specializations, especially involving appendage reductions, than any other Lepidoptera family. Assessing the family relationships of psychid species with fully winged females was a consistent problem for early lepidopterists, who often proposed such taxa in Tineidae or Yponomeutoidea (Davis, 1998). Consequently, previous attempts to classify the family have varied from the recognition of as many as 10 families (Tutt 1990)to as few as two subfamilies (Kozhanchikov 1956), or a superficial division in two paraphyletic families: Micropsychidae (= Micropsychiniidae Gomez Bustillo, 1984) to include ??tineid-like?? forms; and the ??true?? Psychidae, or ??bombyx-like?? forms (Gomez Bustillo, 1979). Adults are small to medium size moths, with forewings ranging from 4 to 28 mm in length. Males are always fully winged; the females are either fully winged, brachypterous, apterous, or vermiform (with all body appendages vestigial or lost). The larvae construct portable cases, as do genera in at least 10 other families of Lepidoptera. The morphology of the larval stage is more conservative and exhibits features diagnostic for the family.

Fossil record:

The earliest reported fossil records for Psychidae are from the Rupelian stage of the middle Tertiary (Larsson 1978, Rohdendorf 1991). Sobczyk and Kobbert (2009)have recently reviewed psychid remains from Baltic amber and described a new genus and two new species from their larval cases.

Organic cases provide protection: bagworm moths
 

Larvae of bagworm moths protect themselves by building spiral-patterned cases out of environmental materials such as twigs, leaves, and silk.

         
  "The bagworm constructs a case around itself soon after hatching from its egg. The bagworm finds twigs or leaves in the tree or shrub where it feeds, and weaves these together in a silken case. As the bagworm grows, it adds to this 'armor.' The animal carries the protective case along with it as it moves around, poking out its head to feed.

"When the bagworm is full-grown, it uses silk to anchor the case to a branch or leaf. Sealing the opening with silk, it spins a silk inner case, or cocoon. There the caterpillar pupates. The adult male develops wings and leaves his cocoon to mate. The adult female never leaves her cocoon and lays her eggs in it. When the eggs hatch, the larvae crawl out of the case and move away, each to make its own tiny new case.

"The remarkable thing about the design of the bagworm twig casing is that it is designed to resist failure by crushing. The bagworm does this by placing the twigs in an ingenious pattern that, in section, forms a spiral configuration. Differing species apply this principle in various effective ways." (Tsui 1999:128)
  Learn more about this functional adaptation.

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) Stats
                                        

Specimen Records:	2,403	Public Records:	70
Specimens with Sequences:	2,017	Public Species:	33
Specimens with Barcodes:	1,803	Public BINs:	32
Species:	452
Species With Barcodes:	369

Access Published & Released Data: Download FASTA File

Collection Sites: world map showing specimen collection locations for Psychidae