| Choristostigma zephyralis | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Crambidae |
| Genus: | Choristostigma |
| Species: | C. zephyralis |
| Binomial name | |
| Choristostigma zephyralis (Barnes & McDunnough, 1914) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Choristostigma zephyralis is a moth in the Crambidae family. [1] It is found in North America, where it has been recorded from California. [2]
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 Crambidae are the grass moth family of lepidopterans. They are variable in appearance, the nominal subfamily Crambinae taking up closely folded postures on grass stems where they are inconspicuous, while other subfamilies include brightly coloured and patterned insects which rest in wing-spread attitudes.
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 about 23 mm. The forewings are sulphur yellow shading into orange-yellow terminally. The costa is purple to the reniform. The orbicular is oval and the reniform has the figure of an eight. Both are filled with purple and attached to the costal stripe. The hindwings are sulphur yellow with a subbasal dark line which is only prominent above the inner margin. There is a small discal dot and a subterminal line. There is purplish suffusion beyond this line. [3] Adults are on wing from April to July.
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 Monardella villosa . [4]
