Previous classifications of the Nepticulidae were based on species from the northern hemisphere, primarily western Europe (including the United Kingdom) and North America. The revised classification presented in the present work was developed from a study of material primarily from southern Africa, but also from Australia, Europe, North America, and the Orient. Most of the descriptive section deals with the taxonomy of the Nepticulidae of southern Africa. Nevertheless, a guide to the supraspecific classification of the family was a major aim. Cladistic methods were used to assess genealogy as far as possible. The degree to which it has been elucidated is incorporated into the classification. As a result of the study, the Nepticulidae are divided into two subfamilies. One of these subfamilies is divided into two tribes. Fifteen genera and six subgenera are recognised. Two keys are presented, one to subfamilies and tribes and the other to genera and subgenera. The species from southern Africa are included in eight genera, three of which are new. One hundred and seventeen species from southern Africa are considered. Seventy- two new species are described in this work. Of these 40 have been published and 32 appear as manuscript names. For some species described by previous workers lectotypes have been designated where appropriate. The primary types of all the known species from southern Africa have been examined. Observations on adult structure are discussed from the viewpoint of phylogenetic relationships both within the Nepticulidae and between the family and other lepidopteran groups. This has led to a re-interpretation and expansion of some aspects of nepticulid morphology. Numerical phenetic methods, which include cluster analyses and an ordination technique (principal component analysis), were used to check my personal assessment of phena. The illustrations (phenograms and ordination diagrams) provide a visual summary of phenetic relationships of as wide a range of Nepticulidae as possible. Aspects of the nature of taxonomic characters, ancestor-descendant relationships, and homoplasy are discussed. Brief comments are made on distribution, and host-plant choice and phylogeny.

In the three parks in Brno and its surroundings (arboretum of the Mendel university in Brno, the arboretum Křtiny and the forest park Kalvárie in Bučovice) the diversity of mining butterflies on ornamental trees was monitored in 2017 – 2018. The aim of the final thesis was to find out the spectrum of the mining butterflies, to determine a differences in species composition of the mining butterflies on the individual study areas and measure the degree of attack in host trees. A total of 47 species of mining butterflies were found. The most species were found in the arboretum of the Mendel university (31 species), the arboretum Křtiny (19 species) and at least species were found in the forest park Kalvárie (15 species). The most species who were found belong to the family of Gracillariidae (21 species) and Nepticulidae (20 species), the less species was from the family Tischeridae (2 species), Yponomeutidae (1 species) and Coleophoridae (1 species). The most abundant were the species of lithocolletinae, especially Cameraria ohridella on Aesculus hippocastanum, Phyllonorycter platani on Platanus acerifolia and Phyllonorycter issikii on genus Tilia. Against these species should be targeted a possible protection of host trees. The most species of mining butterflies were found on the wooden plant: Quercus robur, Fagus sylvatica, Quercus faginea, Quercus pubescens, Carpinus betulus a Ulmus glabra.