Editing Moth (section)

== Differences between butterflies and moths ==
{{Main|Comparison of butterflies and moths}}

[[File:Basic moth identification features.jpg|thumb|Basic moth identification features]]
While the [[Butterfly|butterflies]] form a [[monophyly|monophyletic]] group, the moths, comprising the rest of the Lepidoptera, do not. Many attempts have been made to group the superfamilies of the Lepidoptera into natural groups, most of which fail because one of the two groups is not monophyletic: [[Microlepidoptera]] and [[Macrolepidoptera]], [[Heterocera]] and [[Rhopalocera]], Jugatae and Frenatae, [[Monotrysia]], and [[Ditrysia]].<ref name="scoble">Scoble, MJ 1995. The Lepidoptera: Form, function and diversity. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press; 404 p.</ref>

Although the rules for distinguishing moths from butterflies are not well established, one very good guiding principle is that butterflies have thin [[Antenna (biology)|antennae]] and (with the exception of the family [[Hedylidae]]) have small balls or clubs at the end of their antennae. Moth antennae are usually feathery with no ball on the end. The divisions are named by this principle: "club-antennae" (Rhopalocera) or "varied-antennae" (Heterocera). Lepidoptera first evolved during the [[Carboniferous]] period, but only evolved their characteristic [[proboscis]] alongside the rise of [[angiosperm]]s in the [[Cretaceous]] period.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Kawahara|first1=Akito Y.|authorlink= Akito Y. Kawahara|last2=Plotkin|first2=David|last3=Espeland|first3=Marianne|last4=Meusemann|first4=Karen|last5=Toussaint|first5=Emmanuel F. A.|last6=Donath|first6=Alexander|last7=Gimnich|first7=France|last8=Frandsen|first8=Paul B.|last9=Zwick|first9=Andreas|last10=Reis|first10=Mario dos|last11=Barber|first11=Jesse R.|date=5 November 2019|title=Phylogenomics reveals the evolutionary timing and pattern of butterflies and moths|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|language=en|volume=116|issue=45|pages=22657–22663|doi=10.1073/pnas.1907847116|issn=0027-8424|pmc=6842621|pmid=31636187|bibcode=2019PNAS..11622657K |doi-access=free}}</ref>