Bombycoidea

Bombycoidea
Death's-head hawkmoth (Acherontia atropos)
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Clade: Eulepidoptera
Clade: Ditrysia
Clade: Apoditrysia
Clade: Obtectomera
Clade: Macroheterocera
Superfamily: Bombycoidea
Gravenhorst, 1843
Families
See text
Diversity
>3,500 species
Synonyms
  • Bombyciformia Schrank, 1802
  • Sphingoidea Gravenhorst, 1843

Bombycoidea is a superfamily of moths, including the silk moths, giant silk moths, sphinx moths, saturniids, and relatives. The superfamily Lasiocampoidea is a close relative and was historically sometimes merged in this group. After many years of debate and shifting taxonomies, the most recent classifications treat the superfamily as containing 10 constituent families.