Sixteen scopariine species and two subspecies, of which five are undescribed, occur on the archipelagos of the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Is., and the Cape Verde Is. Four new species, Scoparia carvalhoi sp. n., Eudonia shafferi sp. n., E. parviangusta sp. n., E. geminoflexuosa sp. n., and one new subspecies Eudonia lineola dorado ssp. n., are described. Seven species are transferred to the genus Eudonia Billberg: E. interlinealis (Warren, 1905) comb. n., E. luteusalis (Hampson, 1907) comb. n., E. melanographa (Hampson, 1907) comb. n., E. stenota (Wollaston, 1858) comb. n., E. scoriella (Wollaston, 1858) comb. n., E. lindbergalis (Viette, 1958) comb. n., and E. decorella (Stainton, 1859) comb. n. The status of Eudonia lineola tafirella (Chrétien, 1908) stat. n. is changed from species to subspecies. Eudonia decorella (Stainton, 1859) comb. n., sp. rev., formerly regarded as synonym of E. stenota, is confirmed as a valid species. Five new junior synonyms of Eudonia species are given: Scoparia coeruleotincta Hampson, 1917 syn. n. of Eudonia lineola tafirella, Scoparia wollastoni BethuneBaker, 1894 syn. n. of Eudonia scoriella, Scoparia maderensis Rebel, 1939 syn. n. of Eudonia decorella, Scoparia imparilis Dyar, 1929 syn. n. of Eudonia angustea, and Scoparia virescens Rebel, 1896 syn. n. of Eudonia lineola. Eight lectotypes are designated. The taxonomic and chorological results indicate that the colonisation of the archipelagos took place by passive dispersal on the ocean surface currents and winds. Each archipelago has endemic scopariine species and the number of endemic species increases in proportion to growing distance from the continents. The ancestors of the Azorean Scoparia species were of nearctic origin, while the species of Madeira and the Canary Is. show affinities to Europe and northern Africa, except that E. scoriella from Madeira Is. seems to be of nearctic origin. E. lindbergalis from the Cape Verde Archipelago show similarities to E. lineola, E. parviangusta and E. geminoflexuosa from the Canary Is. The successful colonisation of oceanic islands by Scopariinae seems to be correlated with the prerequisites: dispersal ability, adaptation to a humid climate, and mosses and lichens as larval food.