The type species of this widespread genus is Phycita roborella, under its obsolete name Tinea spissicella.

When this name was replaced, Fabricius' earlier description of the type species was overlooked, eventually rendering it a nomen oblitum.

In any case, the same moth had been first described as Phalaena (Tinea) roborella by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775, and thus their species name has priority over that of Fabricius.

To add further confusion, some authors have claimed that Ceratium was again established for the present genus in 1848 by Johannes von Nepomuk Franz Xaver Gistel, but this is not correct – Gistel merely discussed Thienemann's and v. Schrank's names and (unnecessarily) proposed Gyra to replace the latter, adding yet another invalid name to the synonymy of Phycita.

The caterpillar's food plants are not comprehensively documented, but seem to include trees of the eurosids I clade and perhaps others.