Hepalastis pumilio

Hepalastis pumilio
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Pterophoridae
Genus:	Hepalastis (disputed)
Species:	H. pumilio
Binomial name
Hepalastis pumilio (Zeller, 1873)
Synonyms
Mimeseoptilus pumilio Zeller, 1873 Marasmarcha liophanes Meyrick, 1886 Mimaesoptilus gilvidorsis Hedemann, 1896 (not Zeller, 1877) Exelastis pumilio (Zeller, 1873) Marasmarcha tenax Meyrick, 1913[1] Exelastis tenax (Meyrick, 1913) Leioptilus griseodactylus Pagenstecher, 1900 Marasmarcha griseodactylus Hellinsia griseodactylus

Hepalastis pumilio is a moth of the Pterophoridae family. It has worldwide tropical distribution, including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Surinam, Japan, Micronesia, South Africa the Virgin Islands as well as Queensland and New Guinea.^[2][3]

The wingspan is 12–15 mm. Adults are on wing in March, April and June.

Larvae have been recorded feeding on Desmodium incanum, Alysicarpus vaginalis and Oxalis sp.^[4]

Description

Head appressedly scaled, brown. Palps slender, a little longer than eye diameter. Antennae markings poorly defined ringed, pale brown and pale ochreous-brown; shortly ciliated. Thorax brown. Tegulae pale-brown. Mesothorax ochreous-white. Abdomen brown. Legs with two pairs of spurs of equal length. Forewings cleft from two thirds, yellowish red-brown. Markings dark-brown, consisting of a discal spot, an indistinct spot at half the length of the cell. Some darkening along the costa near the apex of the first and second lobe. Fringes grey-brown along the outer margin of the first lobe with a basal line of dark scales in the whitish-tinged fringe. At apex of second lobe and along the dorsum four other scale groups, forming an uninterrupted row towards the base of the wing. Underside reddish-brown. Hindwings pale reddish-brown. Fringes grey-brown. Underside pale brown. Venous scales ferruginous to ferruginous-brown, in a double row. The costal row extends far into the second lobe, the dorsal row short.

Taxonomy

The genus Hepalastis is often treated as a synonym of Exelastis.

References

1. On the fauna of the plume moths (Lepidoptera, Pterophoridae) of KwaZulu Natal province (South-African Republic)
2. www.papua-insects.nl
3. Gielis, C., 2003. Review of the Pterophoridae from New Guinea, with descriptions of eight new species (Lepidoptera). Zoologische Mededelingen, Leiden 77(21): 349-391.
4. Bainbrigge Fletcher,T., 1932, Life Histories Of Indian Microlepidoptera (1932), Scientific Monograph (2), Gouvernment of India, Imperial Council of Agricultural Research

External links

• Trin Wiki
• Australian Insects
• Review of the Neotropical species of the family Pterophoridae, part I: Ochyroticinae, Deuterocopinae, Pterophorinae (Platyptiliini, Exelastini, Oxyptilini) (Lepidoptera)
• Insects of Micronesia Volume 9, no. 3 Lepidoptera: Pterophoridae