Ceratophaga

Ceratophaga
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Tineidae
Genus:	Ceratophaga Petersen, 1957
Species include
C. orientalis C. vastella C. vicinella

Ceratophaga is a genus of moths belonging to the family Tineidae. There are currently 16 described species. Most species (12) are found in Africa with three found in Asia and one, C. vicinella, found in the southeastern United States.

The larvae of most tineids (e.g. clothes moths) have adapted to feeding on non-herbaceous material, but Ceratophaga are especially remarkable in that they feed, apparently exclusively, on solid keratin from dead vertebrates. For most species this means the horns and hooves of ungulates but the North American C. vicinella feeds on the shells of the tortoise Gopherus polyphemus.

References

• A Caterpillar that Eats Tortoise Shells