Tag Archives: Eusemia contigua Walker

Heraclia busiris (Fabricius)

Lost Heraclia Moth (Heraclia busiris)

This species is known from a single specimen that was collected somewhere in Africa (all other known members of the genus occur there); it was described in 1793, originally as a skipper (Hesperidae).

The sole specimen was examined in 2018, when it was found not to be a skipper (Hesperiidae) at all but instead a member of a completely different family, the owlet moths (Noctuidae). [1]

The Lost Heraclia Moth has not been found for 229 years; it may well be lost forever.

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References:

[1] Alberto Zilli; Nick Grishin: Unveiling one of the rarest ‘butterflies’ ever (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae, Noctuidae). Systematic Entomology 44(2): 384-395. 2018

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Photo: The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London

(under creative commons license (4.0))
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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edited: 28.04.2022