Ostrinia marginalis - Hodges#4948
Ostrinia marginalis
This record describes Ostrinia marginalis (species). Recorded family: Crambidae. Recorded order: Lepidoptera.
Identification and Appearance
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Additional details | Ferruginous. |
| Body | Body beneath and legs silvery white. Palpi porrect, smooth, broad, white beneath, nearly as long as the breadth of the head; third joint acute, minute. |
| Abdomen | Abdomen cinereous. |
| Legs | Legs smooth, slender. |
| Wings | Wings rather broad, with a cinereous line, which extends from the end of the interior border of the hind wings to four-fifths of the length of the costa of the fore wings; under side mostly cinereous. |
| Forewings | Forewings hardly acute; exterior border slightly convex, moderately oblique. Length of the body 4 lines; of the wings 9 lines. Type locality: Canada, Hudson's Bay, Albany River, Saint Martin's Falls |
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Class
- Insecta
- Order
- Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
- Superfamily
- Pyraloidea
- Family
- Crambidae (Crambid Snout Moths)
- Subfamily
- Pyraustinae
- Tribe
- Pyraustini
- Genus
- Ostrinia
Imported taxonomy record. Source availability varies; see the source references and editorial policy below.
About Butterflies and Moths: the wider group
Order-level background for Lepidoptera, the group containing Ostrinia marginalis. 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 Ostrinia marginalis - Hodges#4948 (4)
Photo credits: Contributed by Jason J. Dombroskie; Additional contributions by Kyhl Austin