Galacticidae

Galacticidae is a recently recognised and enigmatic family of insects in the lepidopteran order. These moderate sized moths are 8–17 mm in wingspan and have previously been embedded within several lepidopteran superfamilies (Tineoidea: Psychidae, Urodoidea, Sesioidea and in several families of Yponomeutoidea), but Galacticidae is currently placed in its own superfamily at the base of the natural group Apoditrysia (Dugdale et al., 1999 [1998]; May, 2004).

Galacticidae
Homadaula anisocentra
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Infraorder:	Heteroneura
Clade:	Eulepidoptera
Clade:	Ditrysia
Clade:	Apoditrysia
Superfamily:	Galacticoidea Minet, 1986
Family:	Galacticidae Minet, 1986
Genera
Galactica Walsingham, 1911 Homadaula Lower, 1899 ?Tanaoctena Turner, 1913
Diversity
About 33 species

Note: the superfamily was unintentionally called "Galaticoidea" in Dugdale et al. (1999) [1998].

The relationships of Galacticidae need reassessment with new characters including DNA data . The genus Homadaula looks remarkably like the yponomeutid genera Prays and Atemelia and some species are reminiscent of "small ermine" moths. Despite the spined abdominal segments of the pupae and a few other characters (Minet, 1986) some possess structural similarities to yponomeutids as well and have similar larval behaviour so their removal from the Yponomeutoidea has been questioned (Mey, 2004).

The family is distributed in the Old World from Africa and Madagascar to Asia, Australia and New Caledonia. The richest genus is Homadaula with eight species. The mimosa webworm (Homadaula anisocentra) is a pest of ornamental plants , which has been introduced to eastern North America (Moriuti, 1963; Dugdale et al., 1999).