Tineidae is a large and diverse group that is known collectively as the clothes-moth family. Tineidae is unusual in that the larvae generally do not feed upon living plant tissue, as do larvae of most other groups of Lepidoptera. Instead, tineid larvae feed upon biotic material such as fungus growing in or on dead wood, or upon dead or discarded animal tissue, e.g., skin, cuticle, hair, and horn tissue, either in nests (of, e.g., bees, wasps, birds, mammals, or tortoises) or directly upon animal carcasses. In all of these situations, tineid larvae are useful "decomposer" organisms, and in the latter capacity in particular, they have proven valuably informative in the science of forensic entomology.

A few species of Tineidae have become known as economically-important pests ("clothes moths" in the strict sense) through their proclivity for feeding upon human-made articles that are made of or with animal products (e.g., wool, fur) that happen to fall within the preferred diet ranges of these tineids.

Within the context of the entire family, the notoriety of the few pest tineids is disproportionate. The great majority of tineid species are "outdoor" insects, larvae of which are seldom if ever seen by most people, including microlepidopterists. In fact, for the great majority of Nearctic tineid species (and in some cases even genera), reliably-determined larvae and pupae (and the potential wealth of taxonomically-useful information that they represent) are unavailable for study. An important contribution could be made by filling this sizeable void in our knowledge of the Nearctic microlepidoptera fauna.

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As an aid in determining preserved adult specimens, images of genitalia are presented, as available, in the pages listed below.

NOTE: Tineidae is not yet included in the list of families, because building the pages for this family is still so early in the going. So, if you click the "Back to the list of families" link now, you'll have to back-button it or else type in the URL, to get back here.