Pterophoridae
Pterophorus pentadactyla, White Plume Moth
: Eukaryota : Animalia : Metazoa : Arthropoda : Hexapoda : Insecta : Pterygota : Neoptera : Endopterygota : Lepidoptera : Ditrysia Division: Microlepidoptera : Pterophoroidea : Pterophoridae
Author:	Zeller, 1841
Type species:	Pterophorus pentadactyla
Diversity:	73 genera 986 species
Subfamilies
Agdistinae Deuterocopinae Macropiratinae Ochyroticinae Pterophorinae
Genera
Pterophorus and some 90 others

The Pterophoridae or plume-moths are a family of Lepidoptera with unusually modified wings. The fore-wings consist of (usually) two curved spars with more or less bedraggled bristles trailing behind (compare the greater number of symmetrical plumes of the Alucitidae). The hind wings are similarly constructed on three spars. A few genera have normal lepidopteran wings.

The usual resting posture is with the wings extended laterally and narrowly rolled up. Often they resemble a piece of dried grass, and may pass unnoticed by potential predators even when resting in exposed situations in daylight. Some species have larvae which are stem- or root-borers while others are leaf-browsers.

Economically important pterophorids include the artichoke plume moth (Platyptilia carduidactyla), a pest in California, while the Geranium plume moth Platyptilia pica and the Snapdragon plume moth Stenoptilodes antirrhina can cause damage to their respective host garden plants. Other plume-moths have been used as biological control agents against invasive plant species - Lantanophaga pusillidactyla against shrub verbena (Lantana camara), and Oidematophorus beneficus against mist flower (Ageratina riparia).