Taxonomy of the Lepidoptera

The insect order Lepidoptera consists of moths and butterflies (43 superfamilies).^[1] Most moths are night-flying, while the butterflies (superfamily Papilionoidea) are mainly day-flying. Within Lepidoptera as a whole, the groups listed below before Glossata contain a few small families accounting for fewer than 200 species; the bulk of Lepidoptera are in the Glossata.^[1] Similarly, within the Glossata, the bulk of species belong to the infraorder Heteroneura. Early patterns of divergence within Heteroneura cannot be defined with as much confidence, as there are still some disputes concerning patterns of evolutionary relatedness. At the family level, however, most groups are well defined, and the families are commonly used by hobbyists and scientists alike.