| Anaptilora homoclera | |
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| Species: | A. homoclera |
| Binomial name | |
| Anaptilora homoclera Meyrick, 1916 | |
Anaptilora homoclera is a moth in the family Gelechiidae. It was described by Meyrick in 1916. [1] It is found in Australia, where it has been recorded from the Northern Territory, [2] Queensland and New South Wales. [3]
Moths are a polyphyletic 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 which have yet to be described. Most species of moth are nocturnal, but there are also crepuscular and diurnal species.
The Gelechiidae are a family of moths commonly referred to as twirler moths or gelechiid moths. They are the namesake family of the huge and little-studied superfamily Gelechioidea, and the family's taxonomy has been subject to considerable dispute. These are generally very small moths with narrow, fringed wings. The larvae of most species feed internally on various parts of their host plants, sometimes causing galls. Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga) is a host plant common to many species of the family, particularly of the genus Chionodes, which as a result is more diverse in North America than usual for Gelechioidea.
Edward Meyrick FRS was an English schoolmaster and amateur entomologist. He was an expert on Microlepidoptera and some consider him one of the founders of modern Microlepidoptera systematics.
The wingspan is 11–12 mm. The forewings are pale greyish-ochrous, more or less irrorated with fuscous and dark fuscous and with blackish dots near the base above the middle and almost on the dorsum. The stigmata is rather large and blackish, with the plical somewhat before the first discal. There is a marginal series of blackish dots around the posterior part of the costa and termen. The hindwings are grey. [4]
The wingspan 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 60.93 metres, and a wandering albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of 3.63 metres, the official record for a living bird. The term wingspan, more technically extent, is also used for other winged animals such as pterosaurs, bats, insects, etc., and other aircraft such as ornithopters. In humans, the term wingspan also refers to the arm span, which is distance between the length from one end of an individual's arms to the other when raised parallel to the ground at shoulder height at a 90º angle. Former professional basketball player Manute Bol stands at 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) and owns one of the largest wingspans at 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m).
