Agrotis kerri
| Agrotis kerri | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Agrotis kerri | ||||||||||||
| ( Swezey , 1920) |
Agrotis kerri (English common name : Kerr's Noctuid Moth) is an extinct butterfly ( moth ) fromthe owl butterfly family (Noctuidae). It was endemic to the French Frigate Shoals atollin the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands .
features
Agrotis kerri reached a wingspan of 38 to 42 millimeters. The head and thorax were gray, with the patagia (paired structure on the pronotum covering the base of the forewings) showing a slightly brownish tint. The palpi were speckled dark on the outside. The antennae were gray, the legs light gray. The tibia and tarsi were obscured. The abdomen was light gray and had a slightly yellowish tuft of anal tufts. The forewings had a brownish ocher to gray-brown basic color. The hind wings of the male were light gray, the wing veins were a little gray-brown. The hind wings of the female were light gray-brown and a little lighter towards the base.
Geographical distribution, habitat and way of life
Agrotis kerri occurred exclusively on the French Frigate Shoals , an atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (USA). The atoll has a subtropical climate. In October 1914, a female and a male were raised from two caterpillars that were discovered on the host plant Boerhaavia tetrandra on the atoll. The caterpillars were fed with leaves of the summer purslane ( Portulaca oleracea ) and reached the pupal stage on January 5 and January 14, 1915, respectively . On January 20 and February 8, 1915, the adult moths hatched . Further data on lifestyle are not known.
die out
The species was last detected in June 1923, when thirteen more specimens and two caterpillars were collected during the Tanager expedition. In 1986 Agrotis kerri was added to the IUCN Red List and in 1989 to the list of extinct insects of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service . The reasons for the extinction are unknown.
swell
literature
- Otto Herman Swezey: Some New Hawaiian Lepidoptera. Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society, 4 (2): 376-386, 1920 PDF . (Description p. 378/9 as Euxoa kerri )
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Otto Herman Swezey: Some New Hawaiian Lepidoptera In: Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society, IV (No. 2), 1920.
- ↑ Otto Herman Swezey: Lepidoptera. Bishop Museum Bulletin 31. 1923.
- ↑ a b Entry at Natureserve .
- ↑ Agrotis kerri in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: World Conservation Monitoring Center, 1996. Retrieved on 20 February 2009 ..