A Revision of the American Moths 



of the Family Carposinidae 



(Lepidoptera: Carposinoidea) 



Introduction 



This report presents the first review of the Carposinidae known to 

 inhabit the Nearctic and Neotropical regions. References treating 

 the New World species previous to this account are exceedingly brief, 

 largely devoid of illustrations or keys, and consist almost entirely of 

 descriptions of new taxa. A world catalog for the family, however, 

 was compiled in 1922 by Edward Meyrick. This reference, together 

 with Clarke's (1963) illustrations of the carposinid types described by 

 Meyrick, and Diakonoff's (1954) key to all the genera, probably 

 represent the most significant contributions on the Carposinidae to 

 date. The most noteworthy attention directed at this family in the 

 New World was a brief account presented by Forbes (1923) wherein 

 the family was defined and four species (including one synonym) were 

 described. 



I wish to express my appreciation to the following individuals for 

 providing me with study material or information essential to this 

 project: Dr. A. F. Braun, Dr. A. Diakonoff, Dr. J. G. Franclemont, 

 Dr. T. N. Freeman, Mr. M. O. Glemi, Mrs. S. HUl, Dr. R. W. Hodges, 

 Mr. C. P. Kimball, Mr. G. T. Okumura, Dr. J. A. Powell, Dr. F. H. 

 Rindge, Dr. E. L. Todd, Mr. P. E. S. Whalley, Mr. B. Wright, and 

 Mr. A. K. Wyatt. I would like to give special thanks to my colleagues 

 at the Smithsonian Institution for their assistance, particularly to 

 Drs. J. F. Gates Clarke, O. S. Flmt, and P. J. Spangler for their efforts 

 in collecting material for this study. In addition, I would like to express 

 my gratitude for the opportunity of serving as a participant with the 

 Bredm-Archbold-Smithsonian Biological Survey of Dominica during the 

 spring of 1965. This survey resulted in a fine series of two species of 

 Carposinidae previously not reported from Dominica, one of which 

 was undescribed. 



I am indebted to Mr. Andre Pizzini, staff artist for the Department 

 of Entomology, Smithsonian Institution, for all drawings. Nearly all 



1 



