Stoeberhinus

{{Short description|Species of moth}} {{Redirect|Potato moth|the other moths with this common name|Potato moth (disambiguation)}}

{{Speciesbox | name = Potato moth | image = Stoeberhinus testaceus - November 2021.jpg | image_caption = | display_parents = 2 | parent_authority = Butler, 1881 | taxon = Stoeberhinus testaceus | authority = Butler, 1881 | synonyms = Numerous, see text }} '''''Stoeberhinus testaceus''''', the '''potato moth''', is a gelechioid moth, supposedly the only species of its genus '''''Stoeberhinus'''''. However, the genus might also include some related moths presently placed in ''Autosticha''. It belongs to the subfamily Autostichinae, which is either placed in the concealer moth family (Oecophoridae), or in an expanded Autostichidae.<ref name = pitkinjenkins2004>Pitkin & Jenkins (2004)</ref>

It is a small moth with buff and brown-mottled (potato-colored) forewings. Like ''Autosticha'', this moth has the second and third forewing vein emerging from a common stalk; unlike in that genus, the labial palps of ''S. testaceus'' males are beset with feathery hairs, while the labial palps of the females are inconspicuous and do not taper like those of both sexes of ''Autosticha''.<ref name = clarke1986>Clarke (1986)</ref>

This moth is common and widespread in the warmer parts of the Pacific region. It was originally described by Arthur Gardiner Butler in 1881 from specimens collected at Honolulu, Hawaii. The species has since been recorded from Java{{Verify source|date=October 2011}}, the New Hebrides, Fiji, Samoa, the Cook Islands{{Verify source|date=October 2011}}, the Marquesas across the Society and Tuamotu Islands to the Austral Islands, as well as from the Galápagos Islands (though it might not breed there). Its origin is not well understood and it seems to be something of a "supertramp species".<ref name = clarke1986 />

The caterpillar larvae eat all sorts of dry leaves, in which they build silken tunnels. They have also been recorded on living plants of the looking-glass mangrove (''Heritiera littoralis''), though the significance of this is unknown.<ref name = clarke1986 />

==Synonyms==

This moth has become known under several invalid scientific names. For the genus, these are:<ref name = pitkinjenkins2004 /> * ''Staeberhinus'' (''lapsus'') * ''Staeberrhinus '' Rye, 1882 (unjustified emendation) For the species:<ref name = clarke1986 /> * ''Stoeberhinus testacea'' (''lapsus'') * ''Stoeberhinus testaceous'' Swezey, 1910 (unjustified emendation)

==Footnotes== {{Reflist}}

==References== *Clarke, John Frederick Gates (1986). [http://si-pddr.si.edu/jspui/bitstream/10088/5293/1/SCtZ-0416-Hi_res.pdf "Pyralidae and Microlepidoptera of the Marquesas Archipelago"]. ''Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology''. '''416''': 1–485. *{{cite web |last1=Pitkin |first1=Brian |last2=Jenkins |first2=Paul |name-list-style=amp |date=November 5, 2004 |url=http://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/data/butmoth/search/GenusDetails.dsml?NUMBER=27726.0 |title=''Stoeberhinus'' Butler, 1881 |website=Butterflies and Moths of the World |publisher=Natural History Museum, London |access-date=July 12, 2018}}

==External links== * {{cite book |last=Zimmerman |first=Elwood C. |author-link=Elwood Zimmerman |date=1978 |title=Insects of Hawaii |volume='''9''' Microlepidoptera |publisher=The University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu|hdl=10125/7338 }}

Category:Autostichinae Category:Moths described in 1881 Category:Moths of Oceania