Anatrachyntis incertulella

Anatrachyntis incertulella, the pandanus flower moth, is a small cosmet moth species (family Cosmopterigidae). It belongs to subfamily Cosmopteriginae. This was the first "micromoth" species to be described from Hawaiʻi. The type specimens were collected there by the 1820s Beechey expedition and described by the English entomologist Francis Walker in 1864; they are now in the British Museum of Natural History.

Pandanus flower moth
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Cosmopterigidae
Genus: Anatrachyntis
Species:
A. incertulella
Binomial name
Anatrachyntis incertulella
(Walker, 1864)
Synonyms

Several, see text

It is found mainly in Polynesia, from the Hawaiian Islands across the Society and Marquesas Islands to the Austral Islands and Pitcairn Island. It has also been recorded on Fiji, in Queensland (and maybe elsewhere in Australia), on Okinawa and on Rodrigues; except the first locality, these seem to be fairly recent introductions or accidental finds however.[1]

The caterpillar larvae feed on Pandanus species, including Pandanus tectorius.[1]

Synonyms

This species has been described anew several times from localities where it was not yet known. The junior synonyms thus created are:[1]

  • Aeoloscelis aulacosema Lower, 1904
  • Gelechia incertulella Walker, 1864
  • Pyroderces aulacosema (Lower, 1904)
  • Pyroderces incertulella (Walker, 1864)
  • Pyroderces subcarnea Meyrick, 1924
  • Stagmatophora incertulella (Walker, 1864)
  • Stagmatophora tridigitella Walsingham, 1907

It may also have been placed in Proterocosma, but this was usually considered a subgenus of Stagmatophora in earlier times. As it seems, though, Proterocosma is not particularly closely related to either Stagmatophora or Anatrachyntis.

Footnotes
  1. Clarke (1986)
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References
  • Clarke, John Frederick Gates (1986): Pyralidae and Microlepidoptera of the Marquesas Archipelago. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 416: 1-485. PDF fulltext (214 MB!)
  • Zimmerman, Elwood C. (1978). Insects of Hawaii. 9 Microlepidoptera. The University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu. hdl:10125/7338.
  • Lepidoptera of French Polynesia


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