Ceratophaga: taxon details and analytics
- Domain
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Class
- Insecta
- Order
- Lepidoptera
- Family
- Tineidae
- Genus
- Ceratophaga
- Species
- Scientific Name
- Ceratophaga
Summary description from Wikipedia:
Ceratophaga
Ceratophaga is a genus of moths belonging to the family Tineidae. The genus name comes from Ancient Greek κέρας (kéras), meaning 'horn', and φάγος (phágos), meaning 'eater'. Sixteen species are currently recognised, widespread in the Afrotropical realm and Asia. In the Americas one species has been described: Ceratophaga vicinella, which occurs in the southeastern United States. Twelve of the known species occur in Africa, and of those Ceratophaga vastella is perhaps the best-known.
The larvae of most Tineidae (of which clothes moths are the most familiar) have adapted to feeding on non-herbaceous material, but Ceratophaga are remarkable in that they feed, apparently exclusively, on solid keratin from dead vertebrates. For most species this usually means the horns and hooves of ungulates, but the North American Ceratophaga vicinella feeds on the shells of the tortoise Gopherus polyphemus.
...Images from inaturalist.org observations:
We recommend you sign up for this excellent, free service.
Parent Taxon
Sibling Taxa
Child Taxa
- Ceratophaga chalcodryas
- Ceratophaga ethadopa
- Ceratophaga haidarabadi
- Ceratophaga infuscatella
- Ceratophaga lichmodes
- Ceratophaga luridula
- Ceratophaga neodryas
- Ceratophaga nephelotorna
- Ceratophaga obnoxia
- Ceratophaga orientalis
- Ceratophaga tenebrosa
- Ceratophaga tragoptila
- Ceratophaga vastella
- Ceratophaga vastellus
- Ceratophaga vicinella
- Ceratophaga xanthastis




























