Cangetta violescentalis - Hodges#5123.1
Cangetta violescentalis
This record describes Cangetta violescentalis (species). Recorded family: Crambidae. Recorded order: Lepidoptera.
Identification and Appearance
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Class
- Insecta
- Order
- Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
- Superfamily
- Pyraloidea
- Family
- Crambidae (Crambid Snout Moths)
- Subfamily
- Spilomelinae
- Tribe
- Wurthiini
- Genus
- Cangetta
Imported taxonomy record. Source availability varies; see the source references and editorial policy below.
Habitat and Range
Geographic Range
Widespread in Caribbean and South America. Several specimens collected from 1975 to 1995 in the Florida Keys and one collected 1975 in the Everglades (Long Pine Key); lack of subsequent records likely due to lack of collecting effort (Hayden & Dickel, 2014). Type locality ( violescentalis ): Greenland. Type locality ( micralis ): Jamaica.
Additional species information
Species notes from the sources
Etymology: Cangetta violescentalis (Hampson, 1895), n. comb., was formerly in the genus Deuterophysa and includes as a synonym Cangetta micralis (Hampson, 1907); generic placement follows the treatment of micralis in Hayden & Dickel. (Hayden & Scholtens in Pohl & Nanz 2023)
About Butterflies and Moths: the wider group
Order-level background for Lepidoptera, the group containing Cangetta violescentalis. Species-specific details appear above.
Group overview
Lepidoptera includes approximately 180,000 described species of butterflies and moths. Moths outnumber butterflies roughly 10:1. The monarch butterfly's eastern population has declined by more than 80% since the mid-1990s, and the western population by over 95% since the 1980s. The IUCN lists the migratory monarch as Vulnerable.
Ecological role of the group
Butterflies and moths are essential indicators of ecosystem health. As caterpillars, they are a primary food source for birds - a single nest of blue tit chicks requires ~10,000 caterpillars. Adult moths pollinate many night-blooming plants.
Economic and practical significance of the group
Lepidoptera are critical pollinators. In Europe, grassland butterfly species have declined by almost 50% since the early 1990s. In the UK, three-quarters of butterflies are in decline. In the U.S., five butterfly species have gone extinct since 1950, with 29 listed as endangered.
Recorded sources for this group: IUCN Red List, Xerces Society, USFWS, PNAS, WWF. Imported estimates may describe particular regions or reporting periods.
Photos of Cangetta violescentalis - Hodges#5123.1 (3)
Photo credits: Contributed by Aaron Hunt; Additional contributions by Steve Nanz