A remarkable new species of the genus Teinotarsina (Lepidoptera, Sesiidae) from Okinawa-jima, Japan

Collection: Pensoft Publishers

Keywords: Clearwing moth · Topics: Lepidoptera: Biology and Taxonomy, Plant and animal studies, Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior

A new species of long-legged clearwing moth Teinotarsina aurantiaca Yagi, Hirowatari & Arita, sp. n. is described from Okinawa-jima, the Ryukyus, Japan. The species is distinguishable at a glance from other related congeners by the remarkable orange scales ornamenting many parts of the body, such as antennae, palpi, legs, and wings. We hypothesize that the species acquired these differences as a result of convergence with toxic species (Batesian mimicry) or other mimics (Müllerian mimicry).

View raw JSON from API

Found an error? Please report to login@optimap.science.