Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2010 14:14:24 GMT
Necker Island Cosmet Moth
Hyposmocoma neckerensis
family: Cosmopterigidae
This tiny moth species is often included in lists about extinct hawaiian insects.
And there are several informations uttered which are completely wrong
1. it belongs to the Cosmopterigidae not the Micropteridae
2. it is said to come from the Gardner Pinnacles, the Midway atoll and from Necker Island, but all members of this genus are endemic to a single island ! so here we have at least two species involved, two not three because the genus Hyposmocoma is definitely unknown from the Midway atoll !
Some text from the below mentioned book:
The forewing of one of the species involved here (this is only 0,25 cm long !):
The male genitalia of one of the two species involved here:
source:
E. C. Zimmermann: Insects of Hawaii. Volume 9, Microlepidoptera. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press. 1978
*********
This 'species' needs a revision and on the other hand, it is very unlikely that it may have gone extinct because of the remoteness of it's native home island (Gardner Pinnacles or Necker, both are remote and almost inaccessible.).
Hyposmocoma neckerensis
family: Cosmopterigidae
This tiny moth species is often included in lists about extinct hawaiian insects.
And there are several informations uttered which are completely wrong
1. it belongs to the Cosmopterigidae not the Micropteridae
2. it is said to come from the Gardner Pinnacles, the Midway atoll and from Necker Island, but all members of this genus are endemic to a single island ! so here we have at least two species involved, two not three because the genus Hyposmocoma is definitely unknown from the Midway atoll !
Some text from the below mentioned book:
The forewing of one of the species involved here (this is only 0,25 cm long !):
The male genitalia of one of the two species involved here:
source:
E. C. Zimmermann: Insects of Hawaii. Volume 9, Microlepidoptera. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press. 1978
*********
This 'species' needs a revision and on the other hand, it is very unlikely that it may have gone extinct because of the remoteness of it's native home island (Gardner Pinnacles or Necker, both are remote and almost inaccessible.).
