Due to the sheer number of taxa contained here, this has not been thoroughly tested, and some little-known genera traditionally included in the Phycitinae may of course simply be convergent and do not really belong here.

Altogether however, the mesothorax of the caterpillars – with the sclerotised (hardened) ring around the base of seta SD1 – as well as the identical frenula of male and female adults' wings – a single bristle composed of several acanthae – are held to be characteristic autapomorphies by which the Phycitinae can be recognized.

Phycitinae caterpillars are mostly leaf rolling, but some are inquilines in plant galls or seed feeders, and a wide range of habitats are utilized.

Ecological relationships and interaction with humans is not always clear cut in this large group; the famous South American cactus moth (Cactoblastis cactorum) from the Paraná Basin is quite beneficial by keeping down invasive prickly pears (Opuntia) wherever neither it nor these cacti are native, such as in Australia.

It is a polyphagous species however, and having been introduced to comparable climates in Northern Hemisphere America, it is wreaking havoc in Mexican and the southern United States' Opuntia farms.

Similarly, in A. philoxeroides control, care must be taken not to harm native species of the widespread genus Alternanthera, many of which are highly valued aquarium plants.

As noted above, some genera placed in this subfamily might actually belong elsewhere; particularly some of those that cannot be assigned firmly to one of the main Phycitinae subdivisions (incertae sedis) are interesting in this regard.

Despite the review of genera progressing, the large number of Phycitinae taxa means that a lot of genera have not been reviewed since the 1956 landmark studies by United States Department of Agriculture entomologist Carl Heinrich and Hans Georg Amsel of the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe, if not since longer.