''Trosia dimas'', the rosy ermine, is a

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 ...

in the family

Megalopygidae The flannel moths or crinkled flannel moths (scientific name Megalopygidae) are a family of insects. Distribution and habitat There is only one species of Megalopyge in the eastern United States, although there are several throughout the Neotro ...

. It is found in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil, and Peru.

Taxonomy

The first description of this species was by

Pieter Cramer Pieter Cramer (21 May 1721 (baptized) – 28 September 1776) was a wealthy Netherlands, Dutch merchant in linen and Spanish wool, remembered as an entomologist. Cramer was the director of the Zealand Society, a scientific society located in Flushin ...

in 1775, who named it ''Bombyx dimas''. Subsequent authors placed it in the genera '' Chrysauge'', ''

Idalus ''Idalus'' is a genus of moths in the family Erebidae. The genus was erected by Francis Walker in 1855. Species *'' Idalus admirabilis'' (Cramer, 777 *'' Idalus affinis'' Rothschild, 1917 *'' Idalus agastus'' Dyar, 1910 *'' Idalus agricus'' D ...

'', and ''

Sciathos Skiathos (, ; , ; and ) is a small Greek island in the northwest Aegean Sea. Skiathos is the westernmost island in the Northern Sporades archipelago, east of the Pelion peninsula in Magnesia on the mainland, and west of the island of Skopelos. ...

'' until Harrison Dyar, following Hübner in 1822, assigned it to ''Trosia,'' where it has remained.

Description

This species has a

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

of about . The head, abdomen, and legs are reddish and the tarsi black, spotted with white. The collar and thorax are yellowish buff, the latter spotted with red. The forewings are greenish yellow, with a postmedial row of black spots. The hindwings are roseate. The underside is dull roseate. In this species, the

costa Costa may refer to: Biology * Rib (Latin: ''costa''), in vertebrate anatomy * Costa (botany), the central strand of a plant leaf or thallus * Costa (coral), a stony rib, part of the skeleton of a coral * Costa (entomology), the leading edge of th ...

of the forewings is of the same color as the wing. Byrsonima coccolobifolia 5363456

Habitat

''Trosia dimas'' is found in rainforests and cloud-forest at altitudes between . The Byrsonima coccolobifolia is the

host plant In biology and medicine, a host is a larger organism that harbours a smaller organism; whether a parasitic, a mutualistic, or a commensalist ''guest'' (symbiont). The guest is typically provided with nourishment and shelter. Examples include a ...

of Trosia dimas.Diniz, I. R., Morais, H. C., & Camargo, A. J. A. (2001). Host plants of lepidopteran caterpillars in the cerrado of the Distrito Federal, Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia, 45(2), 107-122.

Range

Trosia Dimas has been observed in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. Observations recorded in various collections and

citizen science The term citizen science (synonymous to terms like community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring) is research conducted with participation from the general public, or am ...

initiatives suggest the range where this species occurs is from

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

Taxonomy

Trosia dimas is a species in the genus

Trosia ''Trosia'' is a genus of moths in the family Megalopygidae described by Jacob Hübner in 1820. Species *'' Trosia acea'' Hopp, 1930 *'' Trosia bicolor'' (Möschler, 1883) *'' Trosia circumcincta'' (Schaus, 1905) *'' Trosia dimas'' (Cramer, 1775) ...

. It was first described by

1775 Events Summary The American Revolutionary War began this year, with the first military engagement on April 19 Battles of Lexington and Concord on the day after Paul Revere's ride. The Second Continental Congress took various steps tow ...

References

Moths described in 1775 Megalopygidae Taxa named by Pieter Cramer {{Zygaenoidea-stub