''Hellinsia auster'' 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 ...

of the family

Pterophoridae The Pterophoridae or plume moths are a family of Lepidoptera with unusually modified wings, giving them the shape of a narrow winged airplane. Though they belong to the Apoditrysia like the larger moths and the butterflies, unlike these they are ...

that is found in the U.S. state of

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

(including the type location,

Mohave County Mohave County occupies the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona, one of 15 counties in the state. As of the 2020 census, its population was 213,267. The county seat is Kingman, and the largest city is Lake Havasu City. It is th ...

). The species was first described by

William Barnes William Barnes (22 February 1801 – 7 October 1886) was an English polymath, writer, poet, philologist, priest, mathematician, engraving artist and inventor. He wrote over 800 poems, some in Dorset dialect, and much other work, including a co ...

and

Arthur Ward Lindsey Arthur Ward Lindsey (1894, Council Bluffs, Iowa – 1963, Lancaster, Ohio) was an American entomologist. Arthur Ward Lindsey was educated at Morningside University, Morningside College in Sioux City gaining his Bachelor of Arts in 1916. Collecting ...

in 1921. The

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 ...

is . The head is blackish brown, white between antennae, which are dark with a white line above, sometimes broken into dots. The

thorax The thorax (: thoraces or thoraxes) or chest is a part of the anatomy of mammals and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main di ...

is whitish, although the scales are lightly tipped with gray brown, more heavily in a band which crosses the thorax. The abdomen is gray brown with a few white scales. Above it is marked with two white stripes which contain a pair of diverging black streaks on each segment. In the posterior half of the abdomen, the bases of each pair of streaks are connected by a broad dorsal dash in the posterior margin of the preceding segment. There are also some blackish lateral dashes and two pale ventral stripes. The forewings are clothed with mixed white and brownish-gray scales and more or less sprinkled with black. The hindwings and their fringes are brownish gray.''Contributions to the Natural History of the Lepidoptera of North America''
Adults have been recorded in May, August and September.

References

auster Auster may refer to: Places * Auster Glacier, located in East Antarctica * Auster Islands, East Antarctica * Auster Pass, located in East Antarctica * Auster Point, located in West Antarctica Other uses * Auster Aircraft, a former British air ...

Moths of North America Fauna of the Mojave Desert Endemic fauna of Arizona Endemic insects of the United States Moths described in 1921 {{Oidaematophorini-stub