''Tessema sensilis'' is a little-known

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

, the only member of

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Tessema''. It belongs to the

grass moth Crambidae comprises the grass moth family of lepidopterans. They are variable in appearance, with the nominal subfamily Crambinae (grass moths) taking up closely folded postures on grass stems where they are inconspicuous, while other subfamilies ...

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

(Crambidae), and therein to the large

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Spilomelinae Spilomelinae is a very species-rich subfamily of the lepidopteran family Crambidae, the crambid snout moths. With 4,180 described species in 351 genera worldwide, it is the most speciose group among pyraloidea, pyraloids. Description Imagines ...

; at the time of its description, these were still included in subfamily

Pyraustinae Pyraustinae is a large subfamily of the lepidopteran family Crambidae, the crambid snout moths. It currently includes about 1,280 species Most of them tropical but some found in temperate regions including both North America and Europe. The Pyra ...

and the entire Crambidae was then merged with the

snout moth The Pyralidae, commonly called pyralid moths, snout moths or grass moths, are a family (biology), family of Lepidoptera in the ditrysian Taxonomic rank, superfamily Pyraloidea. In many (particularly older) classifications, the grass moths (Cramb ...

s (family Pyralidae). While its detailed relationships are undetermined, it may be a close relative of ''

Herpetogramma ''Herpetogramma'' is a genus of moths in the family Crambidae described by Julius Lederer in 1863. It currently comprises 106 species that are found in North America, Eurasia, Australia, New Zealand, Central and South America. Of the few speci ...

'' and/or '' Pilocrocis''.Clarke (1986) Though there is no particular reason to assume it is very rare, this moth is inconspicuous and has in fact only been recorded a single time so far, on January 23, 1968; it took almost 20 years to realize it was a new and distinct animal. It inhabits the island of

Nuku Hiva Nuku Hiva (sometimes spelled Nukahiva or Nukuhiva) is the largest of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas country of France in the Pacific Ocean. It was formerly also known as ''Île Marchand'' and ''Madison Island''. Herman M ...

, in the

Marquesas Islands The Marquesas Islands ( ; or ' or ' ; Marquesan language, Marquesan: ' (North Marquesan language, North Marquesan) and ' (South Marquesan language, South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcano, volcanic islands in ...

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

, where it may be

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

. The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

and only specimen (

USNM The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

100735, genitalia on

microscopic slide A microscope slide is a thin flat piece of glass, typically 75 by 26 mm (3 by 1 inches) and about 1 mm thick, used to hold objects for examination under a microscope. Typically the object is #Mounting, mounted (secured) on the slide, ...

USNM 25220) was collected on Tunoa Ridge about 885 m (2900 ft)

ASL American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is expressed by employ ...

, near the scenic lookout at .

Description and ecology

''T. sensilis'' is a smallish smooth-bodied and notably long-legged moth, mid-sized by grass moth standards with a wingspan of 39 mm in the only known specimen. It is mostly a medium yellowish-brown in color, and in the details closely resembles '' Herpetogramma fimbrialis'', and somewhat less so such species as '' Palpita cupripennalis''"''Glyphodes cypripennalis''" in Clarke (1986) is a ''

lapsus In philology, a lapsus (Latin for "lapse, slip, error") is an involuntary mistake made while writing or speaking. Investigations In 1895 an investigation into verbal slips was undertaken by a philologist and a psychologist, Rudolf Meringer and ...

'' and '' Glyphodes argyritis''. The head is slightly scaly, with a well-developed

proboscis A proboscis () is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular arthropod mouthparts, mouthparts used for feeding and sucking. In vertebrates, a pr ...

and squamiform labial

palp Pedipalps (commonly shortened to palps or palpi) are the secondary pair of forward appendages among chelicerates – a group of arthropods including spiders, scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. The pedipalps are lateral to the chelicera ...

s, which are white on the underside; the small

maxillary palp Maxillary means "related to the maxilla (upper jaw bone)". Terms containing "maxillary" include: *Maxillary artery *Maxillary nerve *Maxillary prominence *Maxillary sinus The pyramid-shaped maxillary sinus (or antrum of Nathaniel Highmore (sur ...

s are simple knobs which project forward. Its greyish antennae have brownish spots at the base and – at least in the male – are long (almost 2 cm each) and hairy. Between the antenna bases and the

compound eye A compound eye is a Eye, visual organ found in arthropods such as insects and crustaceans. It may consist of thousands of ommatidium, ommatidia, which are tiny independent photoreception units that consist of a cornea, lens (anatomy), lens, and p ...

s there is a small crescent of white scales on each side. The tegula has buff scales at the hind end. The

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the gut, belly, tummy, midriff, tucky, or stomach) is the front part of the torso between the thorax (chest) and pelvis in humans and in other vertebrates. The area occupied by the abdomen is called the abdominal ...

is reddish-grey, but the 8th segment is white in the front part, reddish in the hind part. The end of the abdomen bears a tuft of elongated scales which are buff with reddish tips above, and entirely reddish below. The underside of the body is white. The

legs A leg is a weight-bearing and locomotive anatomical structure, usually having a columnar shape. During locomotion, legs function as "extensible struts". The combination of movements at all joints can be modeled as a single, linear element cap ...

are white at the base, shading to brownish on the femur (forelegs) or tibia (mid- and hindlegs). The straight-margined forewings have a somewhat drawn-out but blunt tip and 12 veins. Of the latter, lb and 2 are single, 3-5 approach at their base, 5-7 run somewhat parallel and not far apart from each other, 8 and 9 have a long stalk leading to wingtip or leading edge, respectively; the 10th vein

anastomoses An anastomosis (, : anastomoses) is a connection or opening between two things (especially cavities or passages) that are normally diverging or branching, such as between blood vessels, leaf#Veins, leaf veins, or streams. Such a connection may be ...

with the stalks of the preceding two, the 11th attaches to the outer fourth of the wing cell, and the 12th from its base. The hindwings are somewhat angular too, and have 8 veins. Of these, the first two run singly, while 3-5 approach, 6 and 7 join, and 7 and 8 anastomose at their bases. The only mark on the yellowish-brown wings is a short reddish transverse dash at the outer end of the forewing cell. Altogether, the most conspicuous differences from ''H. fimbrialis'' are the markedly shorter legs and antennae of the latter, as well as its white abdominal tuft. In addition, ''H. fimbrialis'' has upturned (not squamiform) labial palps and stalked (not anastomosing) hindwing veins 7 and 8. The male genitalia of ''T. sensilis'' are symmetrical and overall only lightly sclerotized (hardened) except for the stout

aedeagus An aedeagus ( or aedeagi) is a reproductive organ of male arthropods through which they secrete sperm from the testes during copulation (zoology), copulation with a female. It can be thought of as the insect equivalent of a mammal's penis, th ...

, which has a heavily sclerotized rod on the underside. Gnathos and

socius Socius may refer to: * Socii, of the Roman Republic in classical times * a Latin noun meaning "comrade, friend, ally" (adjectival form: ''socialis'') and used to describe a bond or interaction between parties that are friendly, or at least civil; ...

are absent. The

uncus The uncus is an anterior extremity of the parahippocampal gyrus. It is separated from the apex of the temporal lobe by a sulcus called the rhinal sulcus. Although superficially continuous with the hippocampal gyrus, the uncus forms morphol ...

is slender, curved, dilated, and covered in bristles at the tip. The

clasper In biology, a clasper is a male anatomical structure found in some groups of animals, used in mating. Male cartilaginous fish have claspers formed from the posterior portion of their pelvic fin which serve to channel semen into the female's ...

's harpe is barely sclerotized, forming a ridge on the costa, a narrow stripe on the sacculus, and a curved process emerging from the harpe's center; the cucullus is broadly rounded. The vinculum is broad and truncated, with a bulge in the middle; the

tegumen The study of the genitalia of Lepidoptera is important for Lepidoptera taxonomy in addition to development, anatomy and natural history. The genitalia are complex and provide the basis for species discrimination in most families and also in fami ...

is arched, and the anellus forms a small almost triangular plate with light sclerotized flanges at the hind sides. The female genitalia are of course still unknown. Ecologically, essentially nothing is known about this species. Its

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

is likely light woodland rich in

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

es and

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

s, but it may have been a vagrant from more or less densely wooded areas nearby. Plants recorded in or near the presumed habitat are for example '' Bidens henryi'', '' Cheirodendron bastardianum'', ''

Glochidion ramiflorum ''Glochidion'' is a genus of Flowering plant, flowering plants in the family Phyllanthaceae, known as cheese trees or buttonwood in Australia, and leafflower trees in the scientific literature. It comprises about 170 species, distributed from Mad ...

'', ''

Metrosideros collina ''Metrosideros collina'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae. It is a tree or shrub native to French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, and the Pitcairn Islands. Taxonomy The species was first formally described by botanist Johann ...

'', ''

Pandanus ''Pandanus'' is a genus of monocots with about 578 accepted species. They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. Common names include pandan, screw palm and screw pine. The genus is classified ...

'', and '' Vaccinium cereum''.

Footnotes

References

* (1986): Pyralidae and Microlepidoptera of the Marquesas Archipelago. ''Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology'' 416: 1-485
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External links

Global Pyraloidea database
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q7705654, from2=Q17272380 Spilomelinae Fauna of the Marquesas Islands