Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Hepialidae Rank Species | Phylum Arthropoda Order Lepidoptera Genus Sthenopis | |
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Similar Sthenopis argenteomaculatus, Epimartyria auricrinella, Korscheltellus, Eriocrania semipurpurella, Eriocrania | ||
Sthenopis pretiosus, the gold-spotted ghost moth, is a species of moth of the family Hepialidae. It was first described by Herrich-Schäffer in 1856. It can be found in found Brazil, Venezuela and in the north-eastern United States and south-eastern Canada.
Contents
Naming history
Sthenopis pretiosus was independently discovered, named and described at least three times:
- It was first found in Brasil and described by Herrich-Schäffer in 1856 who called it Epialus pretiosus. The type specimen of E. pretiosus has not been located.
- It was also found in the north-eastern United States and south-eastern Canada and described by Grote in 1878, who called it Hepialus auratus which become Sthenopis auratus.
- It was also found in Venezuela and described by R. Pfitzner in 1906, who called it Phassus eldorado. Latter R. Pfitzner published illustration of Phassus eldorado. The holotype of P. eldorado is at the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt am Main.
In 2015, Carlos G. C. Mielke and John R. Grehan concluded that Hepialus auratus Grote, 1878 and Phassus eldorado Pfitzner, 1906 are junior and subjective synonymies of Sthenopis pretiosus Herrich-Schaffer, [1856], and applied the rule of priority to change H. auratus and P. eldorado's names to Sthenopis pretiosus.
Description
The wingspan is 60–70 mm. The forewings are yellowish-brown with several gold spots and an indistinct whitish, pinkish, or silvery band overlaid with small angular patches. The hindwings are light yellowish-orange and unmarked.
Food plants for this species include Athyrium, Dryopteris, and Matteuccia.