''Rectiostoma flinti'' 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
Depressariidae
Depressariidae is a family of moths. It was formerly treated as a subfamily of Gelechiidae, but is now recognised as a separate family, comprising about 2,300 species worldwide.
Subfamilies
Depressariidae consists of ten subfamilies:
* Acriinae ...
. It was described by W. Donald Duckworth in 1971. It is found in
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
.
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 forewings are yellow basally, concolorous and continuous with the thorax and tegulae except for a small patch of gray brown at the extreme base of the dorsum. The distal margin of the yellow area is bordered by a dark brown line immediately paralleled by a broad transverse band of iridescent blue. The apical half of the forewing is dark brown with alternating irregular transverse patterns of red brown, black, iridescent gray, iridescent blue violet, red brown, black, iridescent blue violet in sequence from midpoint to
apex. The hindwings are dark brown with a white patch on the anterior margin.
Neotropical Microlepidoptera XX: Revision of the Genus Setiostoma (Lepidoptera: Stenomidae)
/ref>
The larvae possibly feed on ''Philodendron
''Philodendron'' is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. , the Plants of the World Online accepted 621 species; other sources accept different numbers. Regardless of number of species, the genus is the second-largest member o ...
'' species, but it is also possible that the plant was growing in close association with the actual host plant and the insect accidentally pupated on it instead of the host.
References
Moths described in 1971
Rectiostoma
{{Depressariidae-stub