Mimeusemia ceylonica

In News

  • Researchers from Tamil Nadu have spotted a rare moth species for the first time in India in the buffer zone of Kalakkad–Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) after it was last sighted 127 years ago – at Trincomalee in Sri Lanka in 1893.

About

  • Mimeusemia ceylonica is a moth species belonging to the subfamily Agaristinae and family Noctuidae. 
  • It was first illustrated and described by English entomologist George Hampson in 1893. 
  • The spotting of the Moth species in the district has added to the testimony of the rich biodiversity of the region.

                                                               Moths

  • Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies.
  • There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth,many of which have yet to be described.
  • Most species of moth are nocturnal, but there are also crepuscular and diurnal species.
  • While the butterflies form a monophyletic group, the moths, comprising the rest of the Lepidoptera, do not. 

Source:TH