''Ephestris'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

tiger moth The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. ...

genus in the family

Erebidae The Erebidae are a family (biology), family of moths in the superfamily Noctuoidea. The family is among the largest families of moths by species count and contains a wide variety of well-known macromoth groups. The family includes the underwin ...

. It contains the single species ''Ephestris melaxantha''. Both the genus and species were first described by

Jacob Hübner Jacob Hübner (20 June 1761 – 13 September 1826, in Augsburg) was a German entomologist. He was the author of ''Sammlung Europäischer Schmetterlinge'' (1796–1805), a founding work of entomology. Scientific career Hübner was the author of '' ...

, the genus in 1820 and the species in 1809.

Etymology

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''melaxantha'' derives from the Greek μελανός (''melanós'') meaning "black" and ''xanthus'', meaning "golden haired" or "yellow", with reference to the striking coloration of the wings, probably a warning to predators."''Efestris'' (''Ephestris melaxantha'')"
''Didactalia''.

Description

''Ephestris melaxantha'' has a wingspan of about .Alekseev, V. N. & Babenko, V. G
''Бабочки''
utterflies Despite being a moth, it has diurnal behavior.

Distribution

This species is native to

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 the tropical regions of South America.

References

External links

Insecta-web
Pericopina Monotypic moth genera Moths of South America {{Pericopina-stub