Mandag Moth

Dagens møll er en subtil brun Crambidae, Loxostege brunneitincta. Selv om dette ikke er en spesielt fengende møll det har en interessant historie som illustrerer behovet for vitenskapelige samlinger og museums lån. Hvis du leser etiketten bildet vil du legge merke til møll ble opprinnelig samlet inn i 1927 av Den. P. Fra Duzee i Truckee, CA. Van Duzee was a noted Hemipterist and a curator at the California Academy of Sciences for 24 years until his death in 1940. His collections of bugs (i bokstavelig forstand) alene utgjorde 164,442 prøver, and like many entomologists Van Duzee collected everything he came across and likely added another 100,000 prøver til museet av grupper han var ikke engang studere.
And so this little brown moth remained in the CAS until the 1970’s when Eugene Munroe utlån prøver for sitt arbeid på slekten Loxostege. The resulting 1976 fascicle described this species as new to science and even used this specimen as an illustration in the book. If you’re unfamiliar with the term paratype it’s a specimen from the series (unntatt holotype) that was used to describe that species. And while this particular moth doesn’t seem to be abundant, slekten har noen mer beryktede skadedyr som den sørlige bete og alfalfa webworms. More often than not the pets themselves are well known but the genera they belong to might be enigmatic. But thanks in part to Van Duzee and many entomologists like him, Munroe var i stand til å sette sammen en samling av prøver som ville ha tatt flere tiår (om ikke lenger) to gather. And only with a sufficient collection is a comprehensive assessment of species possible.