''Merulempista rubriptera'' is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of ...

of the family

Pyralidae The Pyralidae, commonly called pyralid moths, snout moths or grass moths, are a family of Lepidoptera in the ditrysian superfamily Pyraloidea. In many (particularly older) classifications, the grass moths (Crambidae) are included in the Pyra ...

. It is known from China (Inner Mongolia). The

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

is 23.5-24.5 mm. The head is khaki in males and pale yellowish brown in females. The antenna have a reddish-brown scape dorsally, yellow ventrally. The flagellum is yellowish brown ringed with brown. The thorax and tegula in males are rosy, in females greyish brown tinged with rosy. The forewings are rosy, with scattered greyish-white and black scales in the distal half and a longitudinal greyish-black stripe at the base just below the costa. The posterior margin is yellowish white at the base. The antemedian line is yellowish white and straight, its posterior half is tinged with black on the inside and ocherous yellow on the outside. The postmedian and subterminal lines are greyish white, slightly sinuate and nearly parallel. The cilia is rosy mixed with greyish brown, with a fine yellowish-white basal line. The hindwings are pale brown. The legs are rosy on the outside and yellowish white on the inside.

Etymology

The specific epithet is derived from the Latin ''ruber'' (meaning red) and the suffix ''pteron'' (meaning wing) in reference to the colour of the forewing.

References

External links

Review of the genus ''Merulempista'' Roesler, 1967 (Lepidoptera, Pyralidae) from China, with description of two new species
Moths described in 2011 Phycitini {{Phycitini-stub