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 the mainly day-flying.

Within Lepidoptera as a whole, the groups listed below before Glossata contain a few basal families accounting for less than 200 species; the bulk of Lepidoptera are in the Glossata.

[1] Similarly, within the Glossata, there are a few basal groups listed first, with the bulk of species in the Heteroneura.

Basal groups within Heteroneura cannot be defined with as much confidence, as there are still some disputes concerning the proper relations among these groups.