- Urania sloanus
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Sloane’s Urania (Urania sloanus) 
Lithograph of "Cydimon sloanus" (top) published in 1897 for A Handbook to the Order Lepidoptera by W.F.Kirby Conservation status Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Lepidoptera Family: Uraniidae Subfamily: Uraniinae Genus: Urania Species: U. sloanus Binomial name Urania sloanus
(Cramer, 1779)
Former range in red (Jamaica) Synonyms Cydimon sloanus
Sloane's Urania (Urania sloanus) was a moth of the Uraniidae family, last reported in 1894 or 1895.,[1] but possibly surviving until at least 1908.[2][3]
It was black with iridescent red, blue and green markings. The iridescent parts of the wings do not have pigment; as determined by optical sciences for the species Urania fulgens belonging to the same genus,[4] the color originates from refraction of light by the ribbon-like scales covering the moth's wings.
This moth is considered “the most spectacular Urania species”.[1] As most species of the subfamily Uraniinae, it was a day flying moth while most moths are active at night; its bright colors advertised, as a warning, the fact that it was also toxic.
Based on our knowledge of extant uraniine species, it is likely that Sloane's Urania migrated between patches of host plants, after population explosions locally defoliated them. This probably required relatively large, intact areas of lowland forest.[3][5] It was endemic to Jamaica. Habitat loss when Jamaica's lowland rainforests were cleared and converted to agricultural land during the colonial era may have contributed to its extinction, but large parts of primary forest still remain. Thus, the more probable answer to its extinction would be that the moth population “crashed below a sustainable level, perhaps a victim of loss of one of its larval foodplants” such as the toxic Omphalea triandra L. and O. diandra. Like other members of the genus Urania, periodic swarms of moths were separated by years of great scarcity.[1][3]
The genus name Urania is New Latin from Latin Urania from Ancient Greek Ουρανία, one of the Muses, literally 'The Heavenly One'. The specific epithet sloanus honours Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753),[3][6] an English collector whose collection became the foundation of the British Museum.
References
- ^ a b c Lees, David and Neal Smith (1991) Foodplants of the Uraniinae (Uraniinae) and their Systematic, Evolutionary and Ecological Significance or an OCR of the pdf document. In Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society, vol. 45. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
- ^ Vinciguerra, R. 2009. Osservazioni su Urania sloanus (Cramer, 1779) (Lepidoptera: Uraniidae). SHILAP Revista lepidopterologica, 37 (147): 1-6"
- ^ a b c d Lees, D.C., 2010 Urania sloanus In Natural History Museum Species of the Day, 16.04.2010
- ^ Prum,R.O. Quinn T. and Torres, R.H. 2006. Anatomically diverse butterfly scales all produce structural colours by coherent scattering. The Journal of Experimental Biology 209, 748-765 doi:10.1242/jeb.02051 [available at http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/209/4/748.pdf]
- ^ (2004) Urania sloanus in The Titian Peale Butterfly and Moth Collection of The Academy of Natural Sciences. Retrieved October 6, 2007.
- ^ The Century Dictionary by The Century Company.Available online.
External links
- Urania sloanus Peale specimen from The Academy of Natural Sciences general collection Contains a photo (with scale) of a specimen collected by Titian R. Peale
Categories:- Extinct animals of Jamaica
- Uraniidae
- Extinctions since 1500
- Extinct insects
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