Gelechiidae

Gelechiidae is a family of moths commonly called twirler moths or gelechiid moths, the namesake family of the superfamily Gelechioidea. They are generally very small moths with narrow, fringed wings, and their larvae typically feed inside plant tissue, often producing galls. By the late twentieth century the family was estimated to include more than 900 genera and over 4,500 species, with about 650 genera recorded in North America alone, though these figures are considered outdated given ongoing revision of the superfamily. Gelechiidae shows enormous diversity and includes agricultural pests such as the tomato pinworm and pink bollworm, alongside species used beneficially for biological control of invasive plants; the genus Chionodes, associated largely with Douglas-fir, is unusually diverse in North America.