| Microcausta flavipunctalis | |
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| Species: | M. flavipunctalis |
| Binomial name | |
| Microcausta flavipunctalis Barnes & McDunnough, 1913 | |
Microcausta flavipunctalis is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by William Barnes and James Halliday McDunnough in 1913. [1] It is found in North America, where it has been recorded from Florida. [2] It is also present in Cuba and Puerto Rico.
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.
William David Barnes was an American entomologist and surgeon. He was the son of Dr. William A. and Eleanor Sawyer Barnes. He graduated salutatorian from the Decatur High School in 1877. Then spent a year at Illinois State University followed by a year at University of Illinois. In 1879, he entered Harvard Medical School and graduated in 1886. While at Harvard, he met naturalist Louis Agassiz and his love of Lepidoptera grew. Agassiz taught him how to preserve and classify the butterflies. He completed an internship at Boston City Hospital and then studied abroad in Heidelberg, Munich and Vienna. In 1890, Dr. Barnes came home to Decatur and opened his medical practice. That same year he married Charlotte L. Gillette. The couple had two children: William Barnes Jr., and Joan Dean Gillett Barnes.
The wingspan is about 10 mm. Adults have been recorded on wing from December to May and October.
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).
