Scotorythra megalophylla (Meyrick)

Kona Giant Looper Moth (Scotorythra megalophylla 

The genus Scotorythra is restricted in its distribution to the islands of the Hawaiian Archipelago and contains about 38 species.  

***

The Kona Giant Looper Moth was described in 1899, it is apparently known exclusively from female specimens.  

The species was found in the Ola’a forest on the slopes of the Kilauea volcano in the southeastern part of Big Island, but also in the Kona district in the western part of the island.  

The Kona Giant Looper Moth reached a wingspan of about 7,2 to 8,7 cm and was thus one of the largest lepidopteran species on the Hawaiian Islands. [1]  

*********************  

References:  

[1] E. C. Zimmerman: Insects of Hawaii 7, Macrolepidoptera. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu 1958  

*********************    

Depiction from ‘Fauna Hawaiiensis; being the land-fauna of the Hawaiian Islands. by various authors, 1899-1913. Cambridge [Eng.]: The University Press 1913’

(public domain) 

*********************  

edited: 31.03.2018