| Chionodes hibiscella | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Clade: | Euarthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Gelechiidae |
| Genus: | Chionodes |
| Species: | C. hibiscella |
| Binomial name | |
| Chionodes hibiscella (Busck, 1903) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Chionodes hibiscella is a moth in the family Gelechiidae. [1] It is found in North America, where it has been recorded from Connecticut and Illinois to South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. [2] [3]
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.
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.
North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere; it is also considered by some to be a northern subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea.
The wingspan is 16–17 mm. The costal half of the forewings is dark brown, and the dorsal half including the apex light ochreous brown. The limit between these two parts of the wing is not very definite and somewhat variable. In the dark costal part lighter, yellowish brown, irregular patches are found, one large indistinct at the middle of the costa and one small rather more distinct costal spot at the beginning of the cilia. In the dorsal light part of the wing are ill-defined darker shadings and the veins are indicated darker so as to produce a striate effect. On the fold at the basal one-third is a small nearly black spot which seems to be constant. There is also a row of black dots around the apical edge. The hindwings are light bluish fuscous. [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 fixed-wing 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).
The larvae feed on Hibiscus and Kosteletzkya species.
Hibiscus is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. The genus is quite large, comprising several hundred species that are native to warm temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world. Member species are renowned for their large, showy flowers and those species are commonly known simply as "hibiscus", or less widely known as rose mallow. There are also names for hibiscus such as hardy hibiscus, rose of sharon, and tropical hibiscus.
Kosteletzkya ) is a genus of the plant family Malvaceae that includes the seashore mallow. It includes about 30 species found worldwide.
