| Aureopterix sterops | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Clade: | Euarthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Micropterigidae |
| Genus: | Aureopterix |
| Species: | A. sterops |
| Binomial name | |
| Aureopterix sterops (Turner, 1921) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Aureopterix sterops is a moth of the Micropterigidae family. It is known from eastern Australia, where it is known from northern Queensland, in wet coastal or elevated coastal forest between Mount Finnigan and Kirrama State Forest. [1]
Moths comprise a group of insects related to butterflies, belonging to the order Lepidoptera. Most lepidopterans are moths, and 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.
Micropterigoidea is the superfamily of "mandibulate archaic moths", all placed in the single family Micropterigidae, containing currently about 20 living genera. They are considered the most primitive extant lineage of Lepidoptera.
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. The population of 25 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.
The forewing length is 9 millimetres (0.35 in) for males and 3.1 millimetres (0.12 in) for females. The forewing ground colour is pale shining silvery ochreous, with weakly marked fasciae either dark bronzy brown or pale pinkish brown. These are more distinct in the female than in the male. There are a few dark brown scales along the costal edge at the base and a very small brown basal triangular patch on the costa. There is also an interrupted oblique transverse fascia at about one fifth with a small costal patch, an even smaller spot in the middle and another on the anal margin, the latter often pale bronze. Furthermore, there is a stronger, but also interrupted, fascia at about mid-length, markedly concave inwards, the costal and anal ends triangular onto the margins. Finally, a very pale bronzy transverse fascia at four-fifths. The fringes are pale ochreous. The hindwing is shining silvery ochreous and very slightly darker than the forewing colour.
A fascia is a band or sheet of connective tissue, primarily collagen, beneath the skin that attaches, stabilizes, encloses, and separates muscles and other internal organs. Fascia is classified by layer, as superficial fascia, deep fascia, and visceral or parietal fascia, or by its function and anatomical location.
