Psychidae

Psychidae [′sī·kə‚dē]

(invertebrate zoology)

The bagworms, a family of lepidopteran insects in the superfamily Tineoidea; males are large, hairy moths, but females are degenerate, wingless, and legless and live in bag-shaped cases.

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Psychidae 

(bagworms), a family of moths. The males have a wingspread of 8–50 mm; they are gray, yellowish, or black. The females, which are often wingless and sometimes legless, resemble worms. There are about 500 species, distributed throughout the world; they are particularly widespread in the savannas of Africa and South America. In the USSR there are approximately 100 species, found primarily in the Caucasus and Middle Asia. The moths do not feed. The caterpillars make cocoons by weaving together pieces of leaves, bark, small branches, and clumps of soil; they feed on the leaves of flowering and lower plants.

REFERENCE

Kozhanchikov, I. V. Chekhlonosy-meshechnitsy (sem. Psychidae). Moscow-Leningrad, 1956. (Fauna SSSR: Nasekomye cheshuekrylye, fasc. 3, no. 2.)