Some occur in temperate regions, but the subfamily is apparently completely absent from Europe, at least as native species.

Adult females are often hard to distinguish from related lineages, and even the larvae do not possess the characteristic sclerotized bristle base near the start of the abdomen, whose position is a tell-tale mark of the other subfamilies of Pyralidae.

By contrast, the adult males of Epipaschiinae are easier to recognize, and three of their traits support the assumption that Epipaschiinae are a natural, monophyletic group: In addition, in most cases the adult males of this subfamily have a conspicuous scaled projection from the scape of the antennae.

As pests, they infest such diverse plants as Persea americana (avocado), Swietenia (mahoganies), or Zea mays (corn).

Alma Solis (1993) provided a phylogenetic analysis of 20 genera of the Pococera complex, consisting of some 300 species in the Western Hemisphere.