''Syllepte mesoleucalis'' 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 ...
in the family
Crambidae
The Crambidae are the grass moth family of lepidopterans. They are variable in appearance, the nominal subfamily Crambinae (grass moths) taking up closely folded postures on grass stems where they are inconspicuous, while other subfamilies includ ...
. It was described by
George Hampson
Sir George Francis Hampson, 10th Baronet (14 January 1860 – 15 October 1936) was an English entomologist.
Hampson studied at Charterhouse School and Exeter College, Oxford. He travelled to India to become a tea-planter in the Nilgiri Hills ...
in 1898. It is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...
to
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...
.
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 about . The wings are yellowish white, thickly irrorated (sprinkled) and suffused with fuscous grey. The forewings have a curved black antemedial line and a sinuous postmedial line excurved from the costa to vein 3, then bent inwards to vein 2 and oblique to the inner margin. The area between the two lines is without the fuscous irroration or suffusion from the costa to vein 2. There is a pale centered discoidal stigma. The hindwings have a pale costal area and cell, from the base to the black postmedial line. This line has pale with marks on the outer side. There is a discoidal black spot.
[ /archive.org/stream/proceedingsofgen98scie#page/724/mode/1up ''Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London'' 1898: 724/ref>
]
References
Endemic moths of South Africa
Moths described in 1898
mesoleucalis
Taxa named by George Hampson
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