Post by Melanie on Oct 11, 2007 13:51:07 GMT
Sloan’s Urania (Urania sloanus) was a moth of the Uraniidae family, last reported in 1894 or 1895.[1]
It was black with iridescent red, blue and green markings. The iridescent parts of the wings do not have pigment; the color originates from refraction of light by the ribbon-like scales covering the moth’s wings. As determined by optical sciences for the species Urania fulgens belonging to the same genus.[2]
This moth is considered “the most spectacular Urania species”. [1] As most species of the subfamily Uraniinae, it was a day flying moth while most moths are active at night, it was also toxic hence its bright colors.
Based on our knowledge of extant Urania species, we can say Sloan’s Urania migrated between patches of host plants, after population explosions locally defoliated them. This probably required relatively large, intact areas of lowland forest.[3] It was endemic to Jamaica. Habitat loss when Jamaica's lowland rainforests were cleared and converted to agricultural land during the colonial era may have contributed to its extinction but large parts of primary forest still remain. But the more probable answer to its extinction would be that the moth population “crashed below a sustainable level, perhaps a victim of loss of one of its larval foodplants”. Which are the toxic Omphalea triandra L. and O. diandra. Like other members of the genus Urania, periodic swarms of moths were intervened by years of great scarcity.[1]
The genus name Urania is New Latin from Latin Urania from Ancient Greek Ïõñáíßá, one of the Muses, literally ‘The Heavenly One’. And the specific epithet sloanus is NL. after Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753),[4] an English collector whose collection became the foundation of the British Museum.
source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urania_sloanus
It was black with iridescent red, blue and green markings. The iridescent parts of the wings do not have pigment; the color originates from refraction of light by the ribbon-like scales covering the moth’s wings. As determined by optical sciences for the species Urania fulgens belonging to the same genus.[2]
This moth is considered “the most spectacular Urania species”. [1] As most species of the subfamily Uraniinae, it was a day flying moth while most moths are active at night, it was also toxic hence its bright colors.
Based on our knowledge of extant Urania species, we can say Sloan’s Urania migrated between patches of host plants, after population explosions locally defoliated them. This probably required relatively large, intact areas of lowland forest.[3] It was endemic to Jamaica. Habitat loss when Jamaica's lowland rainforests were cleared and converted to agricultural land during the colonial era may have contributed to its extinction but large parts of primary forest still remain. But the more probable answer to its extinction would be that the moth population “crashed below a sustainable level, perhaps a victim of loss of one of its larval foodplants”. Which are the toxic Omphalea triandra L. and O. diandra. Like other members of the genus Urania, periodic swarms of moths were intervened by years of great scarcity.[1]
The genus name Urania is New Latin from Latin Urania from Ancient Greek Ïõñáíßá, one of the Muses, literally ‘The Heavenly One’. And the specific epithet sloanus is NL. after Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753),[4] an English collector whose collection became the foundation of the British Museum.
source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urania_sloanus
