| Thyrocopa | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Grasshopper moth ( Thyrocopa apatela ) Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Xyloryctidae |
| Genus: | Thyrocopa Meyrick 1883 |
| Species | |
see text | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Thyrocopa is a genus of moths in the family Xyloryctidae endemic to Hawaii. [1] The taxon has approximately forty species, including some flightless species. [2]
Although some Agrotis species occur at very high altitudes in Hawaii and female Agrotis from New Zealand are sometimes brachypterous, brachyptery in both sexes of Lepidoptera species is rare and is usually limited to wind-battered habitats, often southern oceanic islands and sparsely vegetated areas where the moths locomote by jumping. Thyrocopa includes the only species of flightless alpine moth in the Hawaiian Islands. [1]
Having studied males and females of two different species ( Thyrocopa apatela and Thyrocopa kikaelekea ), researchers at University of California, Berkeley concluded that they had not evolved from a flightless common ancestor nor had they dispersed to new habitats after becoming flightless. Rather, each was descended from a flying ancestor but had separately undergone wing reduction and evolved flightlessness in a case of parallel evolution occurring in less than 1 million years. The adaptation is thought to be a response to specific environmental pressures such as scattered food resources, lack of predation, high winds, and low temperatures that elicit loss of flight. Their hypothesis is supported by both molecular and morphological evidence. [1] [3]
An entomologist at the University of Bristol described most larvae of this genus as generalist feeders that eat decaying leaf tissue and generally hide in webby frass structures they make themselves. The larva of an undescribed species has a slightly different appearance from the generalist species and seems to be a specialist borer in Broussaisia arguta , a perennial native-Hawaiian relative of the hydrangea. [4] At 20 °C in the laboratory, specimens stayed larvae for 2–20 weeks and remained in pupa form for 2–8, a range in development time indicative of a number of species being kept together in the study. [4]
The larvae have been collected on a wide variety of host plants (most of them endemic to Hawaiʻi) including maile (Alyxia oliviformis), paʻiniu ( Astelia argyrocoma ), ʻākōlea ( Athyrium microphyllum ), Carex spp., lapalapa ( Cheirodendron platyphyllum ), pilo ( Coprosma elliptica ), koi ( Coprosma kauensis ), ʻukiʻuki ( Dianella sandwicensis ), uluhe ( Dicranopteris linearis ), Dryopteris spp., naʻenaʻe ʻula ( Dubautia raillardioides ), Elaphoglossum spp., manono ( Hedyotis terminalis ), kakaemoa ( Melicope clusiifolia ), ʻōhiʻa lehua ( Metrosideros polymorpha ), kōlea ( Myrsine punctata ), kōpiko ( Psychotria spp.), sawtooth blackberry ( Rubus argutus ), hoi kuahiwi ( Smilax melastomifolia ), pūkiawe ( Styphelia tameiameiae ), and ʻohelo kau laʻau ( Vaccinium calycinum ). [4]
The genus contains the following species: [2]
Thyrocopa kikaelekea, a species of flightless moth from Hawaii in genus Thyrocopa, was recently discovered by entomologists at University of California, Berkeley and described in a 2008 paper.
Thyrocopa apatela, the grasshopper moth or Haleakala flightless moth, is a species of brachypterous (flightless) moth from the Hawaiian island of Maui.
Thyrocopa abusa is a moth of the family Xyloryctidae. It was first described by Lord Walsingham in 1907. It is endemic to the Hawaiian islands of Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Maui and Hawaii. It is the type species of the genus Thyrocopa.
Thyrocopa abusa is a moth of the family Xyloryctidae. It was first described by Edward Meyrick in 1915. It is endemic to the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
Thyrocopa albonubila is a moth of the family Xyloryctidae. It was first described by Lord Walsingham in 1907. It is endemic to the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
Thyrocopa alterna is a moth of the family Xyloryctidae. It was first described by Lord Walsingham in 1907. It is endemic to the Hawaiian islands of Maui and Hawaii.
Thyrocopa brevipalpis is a moth of the family Xyloryctidae. It is endemic to the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
Thyrocopa decipiens is a moth of the family Xyloryctidae. It was first described by Lord Walsingham in 1907. It is endemic to the Hawaiian islands of Oahu, Molokai, Maui and Hawaii.
Thyrocopa epicapna is a moth of the family Xyloryctidae. It was first described by Edward Meyrick in 1883. It is endemic to the Hawaiian islands of Kauai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Maui, Hawaii, and possibly Oahu.
Thyrocopa geminipuncta is a moth of the family Xyloryctidae. It was first described by Lord Walsingham in 1907. It is endemic to the Hawaiian islands of Maui and Molokai.
Thyrocopa gigas is a moth of the family Xyloryctidae. It was first described by Arthur Gardiner Butler in 1881. It is endemic to the Hawaiian islands of Kauai, Oahu, Molokai and Maui. However, it may be extinct on Oahu, where two females were collected in 1892 but no further specimens have been collected since then.
Thyrocopa indecora is a moth of the family Xyloryctidae. It was first described by Arthur Gardiner Butler in 1881. It is endemic to the Hawaiian islands of Oahu, Maui and Hawaii.
Thyrocopa leonina is a moth of the family Xyloryctidae. It was first described by Lord Walsingham in 1907. It is endemic to the Hawaiian island of Lanai. It is possibly extinct.
Thyrocopa megas is a moth of the family Xyloryctidae. It was first described by Lord Walsingham in 1907. It is endemic to the Hawaiian islands of Oahu and Maui.
Thyrocopa nihoa is a moth of the family Xyloryctidae. It was first described by Matthew J. Medeiros in 2009. It is endemic to Nihoa in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
Thyrocopa peleana is a moth of the family Xyloryctidae. It is endemic to the Hawaiian island of Oahu. It may be extinct.
Thyrocopa sapindiella, the Oahu aulu thyrocopa moth, is a moth of the family Xyloryctidae. It was first described by Otto Swezey in 1913. It is endemic to the Hawaiian island of Oahu. It may be extinct.
Thyrocopa subahenea is a moth of the family Xyloryctidae. It was first described by Lord Walsingham in 1907. It is endemic to the Hawaiian islands of Molokai and Maui.
Thyrocopa usitata is a moth of the family Xyloryctidae. It was first described by Arthur Gardiner Butler in 1881. It is endemic to the Hawaiian islands of Kauai, Oahu and Hawaii.
Thyrocopa vagans is a moth of the family Xyloryctidae. It was first described by Lord Walsingham in 1906. It is endemic to the Hawaiian island of Kauai.