''Stoeberhinus testaceus'', the potato moth, is a gelechioid moth, supposedly the only

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), ...

of its

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 ...

''Stoeberhinus''. However, the genus might also include some related moths presently placed in ''

Autosticha ''Autosticha'' is a genus of gelechioid moths. It belongs to the subfamily Autostichinae, which is either placed in the concealer moth family (biology), family (Oecophoridae), or in an expanded Autostichidae. It is the type genus of its subfamily ...

''. It belongs to the

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 ...

Autostichinae __NOTOC__ The Autostichinae are a subfamily of moths in the Taxonomic rank, superfamily Gelechioidea. Like their relatives therein, their exact relationships are not yet very well resolved. The present lineage was often included in the concealer m ...

, which is either placed in the

concealer moth Oecophoridae (concealer moths) is a family of small moths in the superfamily Gelechioidea. The phylogeny and systematics of gelechoid moths are still not fully resolved, and the circumscription of the Oecophoridae is strongly affected by this. ...

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 ...

(Oecophoridae), or in an expanded

Autostichidae Autostichidae is a family of moths in the moth superfamily Gelechioidea. Subfamilies * Autostichinae Le Marchand, 1947 * Deocloninae Hodges, 1998 * Glyphidocerinae Hodges, 1998 *Holcopogoninae __NOTOC__ The Holcopogoninae are a subfamily of m ...

.Pitkin & Jenkins (2004) It is a small moth with buff and brown-mottled (

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

-colored) forewings. Like ''Autosticha'', this moth has the second and third forewing vein emerging from a common stalk; unlike in that genus, the 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 of ''S. testaceus'' males are beset with feathery hairs, while the labial palps of the females are inconspicuous and do not taper like those of both sexes of ''Autosticha''.Clarke (1986) This moth is common and widespread in the warmer parts of the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

region. It was originally described by

Arthur Gardiner Butler Arthur Gardiner Butler F.L.S., F.Z.S. (27 June 1844 – 28 May 1925) was an English entomologist, arachnologist and ornithologist. He worked at the British Museum on the taxonomy of birds, insects, and spiders. Biography Arthur Gardiner B ...

in 1881 from specimens collected at

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, Hawaii. The species has since been recorded from

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

, the

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium () and named after the Hebrides in Scotland, was the colonial name for the island group in the South Pacific Ocean that is now Vanuatu. Native people had inhabited the islands for three th ...

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

, the

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

, the

Marquesas The Marquesas Islands ( ; or ' or ' ; Marquesan: ' ( North Marquesan) and ' ( South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific ...

across the

Society A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...

and

Tuamotu Islands The Tuamotu Archipelago or the Tuamotu Islands (, officially ) are a French Polynesian chain of just under 80 islands and atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean. They constitute the largest chain of atolls in the world, extending (from northwest to ...

to the

Austral Islands The Austral Islands ( officially ''Archipel des Australes;'' ) are the southernmost group of islands in French Polynesia, an overseas country of France, overseas country of the France, French Republic in the Oceania, South Pacific. Geographicall ...

, as well as from the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands () are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of sli ...

(though it might not breed there). Its origin is not well understood and it seems to be something of a " supertramp species". The

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e eat all sorts of dry leaves, in which they build silken tunnels. They have also been recorded on living plants of the looking-glass mangrove (''Heritiera littoralis''), though the significance of this is unknown.

Synonyms

This moth has become known under several invalid

scientific names In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

. For the genus, these are: * ''Staeberhinus'' (''

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 ...

'') * ''Staeberrhinus '' Rye, 1882 (unjustified emendation) For the species: * ''Stoeberhinus testacea'' (''lapsus'') * ''Stoeberhinus testaceous'' Swezey, 1910 (unjustified emendation)

Footnotes

References

*Clarke, John Frederick Gates (1986)
"Pyralidae and Microlepidoptera of the Marquesas Archipelago"
''Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology''. 416: 1–485. *

External links

* Autostichinae Moths described in 1881 Moths of Oceania {{Autostichinae-stub